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MindManager User Community Support ForumTopicQuestionMindManager Windows
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Category MindManager Windows
Tags dates in formulas
Version (if applicable) 2022

Use dates in formulas

Jon B. shared this question 2 years ago
Discussion Open

Hi - Is it possible to use dates in formulas? I'm trying to solve for the following use case:

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I've done some searching in this community and found this idea (https://community.mindmanager.com/topic/162-make-start-and-due-dates-and-topic-properties-in-date-format-available-in-formulas#comment-654) which leads me to believe this is not possible.


Thanks!

Replies (2)

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Alex G.
MindManager Expert
● 2 years ago

Hi Jon,

I was the person who posted that idea and yes, unfortunately it is still not possible to use dates directly in formulas.

This is obviously a major limitation which I hope they fix soon. In the meantime there are a number of potential if partial workarounds, though I can't quite work out from your formulas if they would help in your situation:

  1. As you've probably discovered, formulas can handle a number of task attributes that are derived from or related to dates, such as effort or duration. What is less obvious is that comparison and logical operators can also be used in MindManager formulas, so for example you could compare the duration of a task to a target number of days or to the duration of another task.
  2. the MAP add-in for MindManager has a range of extended properties related to task timing. These include Days to Task Start, Days to Task Due, Total Days to Task Due and Task Days Elapsed. In addition there are more time unit options for Effort and Duration, including weeks and months.
  3. SmartRules can be used to create topic properties relating to Task Start Date and Task Due Date., as well as duration and effort So, for example, you could create the topic property "1" if the task is due today, or if it falls within a specific date range. These topic properties can then be used in formulas.

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Jon B.
New User
● 2 years ago

Alex -

I up-voted your enhancement request as Mind Manager really does, in my opinion, need the ability to perform calculations using task dates. Your suggestions above are much appreciated, but not quite what I'm looking to do.

I want to use Mind Manager to track tasks before and after a "go-live" date. The "go-live date" will be used to calculate all task start and end times based on Time plus/minus (T -/+) and duration. Here's an example of how that might work in Excel:

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Any ideas how I'd accomplish this?


Thanks!!!

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Alex G.
MindManager Expert
● 2 years ago

Thanks, and yes, I don't think you can do what you're trying to do without being able to use dates in formulas, which is currently impossible in MindManager.

However, I just wanted to clarify, have you considered setting up the "Go live" date as a milestone? You could then set up finish to start dependencies between the tasks which occur beforehand to the milestone, and between the milestone and those tasks which occur after. This may not be exactly what you want but you will at least get a visual indication of the time gaps in the resulting Gantt chart.

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