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Customize your Project Plan
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by tailoring Smartsheet

37. Parent automatically colored

37.1. Parent Row automatically colored

Of course, it would be nice if we could assign a certain color to a parent task, so it would immediately
catch our eye. This can also be automated. We can do this with the following steps:

a) We insert a column, called "Parent Level", where we will set up a formula, to draw the level of
the parents as well sub-parents.

b) Then we write there this formula: =COUNT(ANCESTORS([Task Name]@row))

Maybe you have noticed that when you have a field name which consists of several parts, like e.g.,
"Task Name", then you need to write this into square brackets in the formula.

c) We convert the formula into a so-called "Column Formula" to let the formula float down au-
tomatically.

d) Then, based on the number (0, 1, 2, 3, ...), drawn by the formula, we'll now perform Conditional
Formatting.

© Hans Porzel, 10/2025 | CAPM® (PMI), PSM I® (Scrum.org), Smartsheet Prod. Cert® 2020 Page 108 / 209 pages