How to Add Conditional Text with Virtual Columns

A Little AppSheet Magic

While browsing StackOverflow, I came across a highly upvoted question about how to display conditional text in AppSheet. The author wanted to show “Arriving on [date]” when a date was provided and “Unknown” when it wasn’t. Since this seems to be a common question, I created this video that shows an easy way to do it.

The accepted answer to the StackOverflow question suggested solving this in Google Sheets using App Script. That approach works if you need the modified text to exist in your spreadsheet data, but if you just want to display the correct text in AppSheet, a virtual column is a much simpler solution.

In the video, I walk through how to:

• Create a virtual column in AppSheet.
• Write an expression using IF and CONCATENATE to display the correct text dynamically.
• Update the app’s view to use the virtual column instead of the raw date field.

By using this method, AppSheet automatically formats the title correctly, displaying “Arriving on [date]” when a date is available and “Unknown” when it’s missing.

I also briefly discuss when you might prefer the Google Sheets/App Script method instead.

If you’ve used a different approach for this problem, I’d love to hear about it in the comments. And if you found this video helpful, be sure to subscribe to our YouTube channel for more AppSheet tips: AppSheetAdvisor.