Functional Properties (Formulas and Dynamic Rollups)

Feature Requests
1

WHAT DO YOU RECOMMEND?

Please add “Functional Properties.” This is a property where the result of an operation referencing multiple values is stored.

  1. The result calculated by referencing other properties of an Object is stored as a new property. If the referenced property changes, it must be recalculated simultaneously to reflect the new value.
  2. Similar to a Query, the result of operations referencing multiple values inside and outside the Object is stored as a property. If the referenced values change, it should be recalculated in real-time to reflect the results.

HOW COULD IT BE DONE?

  1. If we refer to the static properties currently specifiable in ‘Create new property’—such as text, number, date, select, or object—as “primitive properties,” we add a new type called “functional property.”
  2. Functional properties can have multiple conditions configured, similar to how filters are applied in a Query. (Directly entering formulas like in Excel is also worth considering.)
  3. The values that can be referenced can be other properties set within the same object, or various data within the space, just like in a query.
  4. The output of a functional property must be one of the primitive properties mentioned in step 1.

REAL WORLD USE CASES

CASE 1. Midterm Report Card

  1. A ‘Midterm Report Card’ Type Object contains properties such as Student, Exam Date, Subject 1 Score, Subject 2 Score, Subject 3 Score, etc.
  2. New functional properties like ‘Average Score of All Subjects’ or ‘Absolute Evaluation Grade’ can be added.
  3. If external values can be referenced, properties like ‘Academic Ranking’ can also be added.

CASE 2. Evolution

  1. A ‘Species’ Type Object (e.g., Tyrannosaurus, Great White Shark) has ‘Appearance Date’ and ‘Extinction Date’ properties.
  2. A ‘Period’ Type Object (e.g., Cretaceous, Jurassic) has ‘Start Date’ and ‘End Date’ properties.
  3. Add a functional property named ‘Survival Era’ to the Species Type Object.
  4. The titles of all periods that existed between the Appearance Date and Extinction Date are listed in a multi-select type format.

ADDITIONAL CONTEXT

This request is somewhat related to Query Type Property - #8 by AnyFriends

2

A very important and always painful missed feature, yes.
It’s on the roadmap, in the section “On the Horizon” as entry #121: “Formulas & Rollups for Properties”.

3

I knew this feature felt too essential to be missing, but I just couldn’t find any mention of it anywhere. Turns out it was right there on the roadmap! :sob:

Thank you so much for letting me know.

4

It’s such a painful feature to be missing. It seems like most user-friendly knowledge-management apps out there either have this feature OR are interested in privacy, but not both.

Some days I’m ready to give up and just migrate back to Notion so that I have formulas again, but then I remember the state of the world and my own moral compass and don’t. But it would be really nice to not ever have that thought cross my mind again.