Linking from Spreadsheet to Document - More than one font style in a cell
CompletedWe are trying to link a cell from a spreadsheet to our document that has a footnote notation at the end "Other revenue (1)" and we have "Other Revenue" in 10pt font and the "(1)" in 9 pt font in the spreadsheet. When we link it to the document everything comes over in 10pt font and you can't change it in the document as it directs you back to the source. Is it possible to link two different fonts from the Spreadsheet to the document? We are not on next Gen for documents and maybe that is part of the issue? Thanks!
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Official comment
Hi all!
Wanted to give a quick update here. A recent release to Wdesk included making paragraph text linking and link formatting flow through available. Both of these are also supported during transition as well. Thanks so much for your patience and feedback. Give us a holler if you have any questions in the meantime. Cheers!
I have a similar set up, and I format the link in the destination document. I do not have the footnote notation in a different font though, the entire link is in the same font. I suppose you could remove the link to the footnote notation and just link "Other Revenue" and then you can change to font on the footnote notation.
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Pre-Wdesk, we used super-script numbers for footnotes on some of our tables. Because of this issue, we are now using asterisks (*, **, ***, etc.). It's not ideal, but at least it differentiates the notes, and removes the need for separate formatting. My understanding is that the Next Gen documents will handle this a bit better, but I don't have direct experience with that yet.
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I do not think this can be done in classic documents. We don't link our row captions to the workbook because they don't typically change and if we need to renumber the footnotes it's easier to review in the document and make the changes. For example if you had (1), (2), and (3) in the same table but for one period presented, the (2) wasn't needed we could renumber the (3) to (2).
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Howdy all!
Great convo so far. I wanted to provided a quick update in terms of the plan for next gen, as well as what's currently possible. Here goes...
@... and Jennifer K Hewitt are correct, this cannot currently be done in classic documents but next gen handles it a bit better, although you can't quite link all the text formatting as of yet. What does work is the flow through of superscripts, but not the flow through other text formatting, like a different sized font or style (i.e. bold, italic, etc). Here's an example:
Link source in next Spreadsheet
Link destination in next gen Document
As you can see, the superscript did follow, but the other text formatting didn't. The superscript flow through was not possible in classic, so this is an improvement for sure and may be an option for you to use in the interim.
As for the planned future of linking flow through, our Product Team is currently working on this for next gen and we anticipate having some improvements available in Q1 2020, I've passed along your feedback and requests to the team and will keep this post updated, but feel free to stay tuned to our What's New topic too for these product releases.
In the meantime, give me a holler if you have any questions on the above, or need anything else. Thanks much for you feedback and have a happy Friday!
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Mike I appreciate the fact that the superscript flows through on the link. However, we miss the ability to format the link in the final document. Before we could break linked text into multiple sections in order to have different formats in the final document. Now the only solution when we have something italicized/different font size/bold is to eliminate the link completely.
Additionally, one of my biggest complaints with Workiva is that the browser and sidebars take up space and I have less room to look at my final document. This is made worse now that the source links are edited in the small box in the right side bar instead of in the document itself. This is also unintuitive; I've had multiple users follow the link from the destination to the source and then not know how to edit the text at the source. I understand that double clicking pulls up the right side bar where you edit the text, but it was much more intuitive when you edited the text in the source document instead of the side bar.
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Thanks for the additional insights Robert Fecher. I certainly understand your frustration there, and the confusion your other users feel too when trying to navigate around.
The good news is our Product Team is actively working on linking improvements, especially those related to linking text strings and formatting flow through. I've passed along this feedback to the team for further consideration and I'll be sure to keep you updated with any new information.
Give me a holler if you need anything else. Thanks again and happy Friday!0
Mike The more I've talked about the changes to linking with my group the more I'm questioning where linking is going. It sounds like the intention is to have source formatting flow through to the destination. However, the source data is a wide variety of disparate sources (general ledger reports, sub ledger reports, emails, presentations, etc.). I don't really want to have the source formatting flow through to the destination. I want the source to look like we received it so it is easier to understand where that data comes from when someone new takes over a process. The destination is the only place where I care what the formatting looks like, because it needs to conform to the look and feel of the document. Am I missing something? I'm just not sure I understand the rationale for having the formatting flow through from the source instead of being dictated by the destination.
Alternatively, what about when I have one source that goes to multiple destinations? If the source formatting flows through, those multiple destinations are required to look the same or else I can't use linking (i.e. the most valuable tool Workiva provides).
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Hi Robert!
Great questions. I chatted briefly with our Product Team on this and I think I can help shed a little light on the direction that linking is going for next gen.
In next gen, the formatting flow through for linking is a "Double Opt In" sort of thing, meaning that you source has to enable flow through as well as the destination. In addition, the formatting flow through at the destination is also optional per link.Hopefully that helps clarify a bit for you but do let us know what questions you have and we'll be happy to help however we can. Thanks again and chat soon!
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