previous rows in logic are also previous from a date time perspective

Preceding values in Coda

Why date time data is essential in your set up

Spring 2026 I wrote an update on how to get the preceding value using Max() instead of the combination of Sort() and Last().

In the community every once in a while questions surface on how to get the previous row value to calculate with. Mostly the questioner simplifies the question to get an answer in its simplest form and that means in many cases stripped from the original date time relation. As a result we introduce a virtual index, we blend sort, filter and make it work. I wrote about the issue as you can read below and here as well.

previousRow() in Coda, a bad idea?

In the context of a spreadsheet, the “previous row” refers to the row that immediately precedes the current row. For example, if you are on cell A2 in a spreadsheet, the previous row is row A1. The previous row can be used to reference cells or to calculate values. In

Coda

we do things differently.

My central argument

In this blog I’ll state that without a proper date time notation, you should not set up a ‘previous…