Calculated Custom Fields

Calculated custom fields are available on Business and higher accounts.

• Overview
• Important Information
• Create a Calculated Custom Field
• Write a Formula
• Possible Formulas & Resulting Data Types
• Color-Code Calculation Results

Overview

Calculated custom fields allow you to make calculations based on data from other Wrike fields. The calculated custom fields feature is represented by the “Formula” custom field.

Please note that calculated custom fields and calculations on Reports are two different features that need to be set up separately.

Important Information

• Calculated custom fields are visible on the project info panel and in Table view, but the results of the calculation can only be seen in Table view.
• In the workspace, calculated custom fields act as other types of custom fields and the same rules for creation, editing, sharing, and aggregation are applied to them. The only difference is that the data from the calculated custom fields can’t be rolled up.

Create a Calculated Custom Field

All users, except for collaborators, can create calculated custom fields.

1. Select a folder, project, or Space from the workspace’s left-hand Navigation panel.
2. Switch to Table view. 1
3. Click the gear icon in the upper-left corner of the view. 2
4. In the opened window, click “Manage custom fields.” 3
5. Click the “+ New field” button.
6. Type in a name for your new field and press “Enter” on your keyboard.
7. Specify field properties on the pop-up that appears:
   
   • Edit the field name, if necessary. 4
   • Select the “Formula” field type. 5
   • Enter the formula. 6
   • Add conditional coloring. 7
   • Specify who the field should be shared with. 8
8. Click "Create." 9

The field is created but not added to the view. To add it, click on the gear icon again and check the box next to it.

You can edit the properties of the created calculated custom field at any time in the Custom Fields page.

Write a Formula

You need to write a formula in order to trigger calculations in Table view.

Formula example: ([Custom Field name x]-[Custom Field name y])*2

• Step 1. Add Fields
• Step 2. Add Mathematical Operations
• Step 3. Change the Format of the Resulting Data Type

Step 1. Add Fields

Add the names of the fields that need to be calculated:

• Click the "Formula" field to see the full list of available fields that you can add to the calculation formula. 1
• Select a field name from the list or start typing it to find it.

Make sure that each field name is encased within square brackets.

Fields that you can include into the formula:

• Default system fields: Duration, Time spent, Created date, Completed date, Effort*, Start date, Due date
• Custom fields
• Other calculated custom fields

You can also include constants like numbers, as we did in the formula example above.

*Effort field is only available in Wrike for Professional Services accounts and accounts with Wrike Resource add-on.

Step 2. Add Mathematical Operations

Supported Operations:

• Addition: +
• Subtraction: -
• Multiplication: *
• Division: /
• Current date: TODAY()

For complex formulas with more than two fields, you can also add parentheses to designate the order of operations.

Step 3. Change the Format of the Resulting Data Type

If the result of your formula is numeric – Number, Percentage, or Currency – you can manually change the format on the view. 1

Possible Formulas & Resulting Data Types

You can add different types of fields to one formula, but the calculated result can only have one type. Let’s say we need to calculate the total payment for an employee who charges per hour:

Formula example: [Hourly Rate]*[Time Spent]=”Currency”

The field [Hourly Rate] has the “Currency” data type, and the field [Time Spent] is set as “Hours.” The resulting field type of this calculation will be “Currency.”

The table below shows which types of fields can be included in formulas together, which math operation can be applied to them, and what the resulting data type will be.

To find out what the result of your formula will be:
If we take formula from the example above: [Hourly Rate]*[Time Spent]=”Currency”. 

[Hourly Rate] has the “Currency” data type, and [Time Spent] is set as “Hours.” So, we multiply "Currency" by "Hours".

• 1 Choose the data type of the first field in the formula from the first column on the left.
  
• 2 Underneath it, choose the line with the required math operation.
  
• 3 Following the line, slide to the right until you reach the column with the data type of the second part of the formula.

Note: The order of fields in the formula is important for the resulting type of data. For example, if you divide “Number” by “Hours,” the resulting type will be “Number.” But if you switch the fields in the formula and divide “Hours” by “Number,” the result will be “Hours.”

✋Important note!

1. Duration custom fields and Time Spent system fields are calculated by hours.
2. Duration system field (i.e., duration of tasks and projects) is treated as days.

Wrike Tip! You can always check any of your custom fields types in Custom Field Management.

Color-Code Calculation Results

Color-coding allows you to add green-, amber-, and red-colored markers to the result of the calculation. The markers appear on Table view in the calculated field’s column next to the result. This allows you to quickly view which of your projects you need to pay attention to.

Let’s say we need to see which of our projects are outside of the budget limit and by what percentage. So, we divide the actual [Expenses] by [Estimated Budget] and change the resulting type of data from "Number" to "Percentage", as described in Step 3 of writing a formula.

Formula example: [Expences]/[Estimated Budget]="Percentage"

To color-code the calculation results:

1. While creating or editing the calculated custom field, check the box next to “Show conditional marker.” 1 *
2. In the opened window, click “+ Add another rule.”
3. Select a condition from the drop-down list. 2
4. Select a color for the marker that will be shown if the condition you set in the previous step is true. 3
5. Repeat Steps 2 to 4 to set up as many markers as you need.
6. Click “Create” if you are creating the calculated custom field or “Save” if you are editing it. 4

When you get back to the Table view, you will need to add the newly created field to the view. For that, click on the gear icon in the upper-left corner of the table and check the box next to the calculated field. After that, you'll see the field and colored markers next to the calculation results in the Table view.

*The name of the checkbox will be displayed as "Add conditional coloring" if the result of the calculation is set as "Percentage" and the "Show progress bar" checkbox is checked.