Calculation with today

As I understand, calculation fields will only be triggered when a source field changes. So no change to have some calculation with e.g. “today” included as the only variable that changes.

Is the only way to run a daily automation for that task? Or is there a more economical way to to that?

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I can’t say with certainty if there’s a ‘better’ way to do this in tape…but I do know a way that works if we draw a comparison from back in our Podio system that was similar…

@dirk_s It’s likely you know or have used this approach before, but I figured I’d post here for the potential benefit of others that haven’t utilized this solution ever…

Option 1 was to have a “current date” field on each item. The calculation values referenced that field. Then run a daily automation to update that current date.
This had a negative requirement that the automation had to update potentially thousands of items with that new date every 24 hours and become taxing on system limits.

The better Option 2 is that you can set up a separate app (App B) with one item in it. That single item hosts a Current Date field which has an automation to update that single field daily.
Then all new items in your other app(s) (App A) can have an on create automation to connect a hidden relationship field to this current date app item (App B). Then calculations in App A simply reference the current date by reaching through that relationship field to App B.
This allows for a single current date field, which is updated daily with one simple automation run, to then impact calculations in many places which will then ensure all those calculations refresh and update daily as needed.

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Thanks - Option 2 seems like a reasonable workaround to a potential permanent solution, that makes things easier but also doesn’t consume to much computing on the platform.

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