Automation to allow Cell Change for Checkbox "Flag" or "Star"

Erica L.

Smartsheet TAM confirmed for me that we can't have an Automation change a cell value if the column type is a checkbox for the icons for either a Flag or Star. Can this be an enhancement request?

Anthony Favara

Enable Cells with Checkbox Styles as Flags or Stars to be changed similarly to how cells with "Checkbox" styles are able to.

KGHarvey

What actions need to be taken to enable it? My automation builder will not even recognize Flags or Stars Checkbox columns as options for automation.

Mary Wall

I just spent several hours trying to figure out why i couldn't find a field when setting up a change...Finally called tech support and after several minutes of trial and error the support person advised it was because my field is set up for a star and not a check. For the love of all that is holy, if you allow users to make checkboxes stars or a flag, please allow users to set up automations to "check" the star or flag the field!

Nathan E

Currently, if you are building smartsheet automations, you can toggle checkboxes programmatically using the "Change Cell Value" box. But bizarrely if you set the checkbox to display as a flag or star, it is no longer listed as a changeable value. As a developer, I consider this more of a bugfix than a "feature request," except that I think someone actually decided to restrict the functionality. Regardless, it should be changed. Sometimes a flag or star is more appropriate, and you still need the function to work.

Dental

Yes, you can change the cell value for a checkmark box between checked and non-checked -- great

You can update the cell field to any text (i.e, "need updated copy" when X-field date is in the past) if the value needs to be changed -- getting there

However, you can't format the field or text color to anything (i.e., change to red to indicate immediate action is necessary) when the value is changed -- GRRRRR

The only way around the problem I've found is two-steps: (1) change the value via Automation, then (2) create a conditional formatting for the desired value(s)

sheetsmartsarah

After refreshing dozens of times and running through the list of cells over and over, I found my way to this post. I can't believe it!

I changed my column to the "checkbox" style, updated my automation, changed the "checkbox" style back to the flag, and then it disabled the entire workflow. But it is a checkbox column....?

It's been over a year now. Is there any sign of this getting updated?

I want rows to automatically be "flagged" based on certain conditions. A checkbox implies that something is "good to go" or "complete". The flag style will show that something needs to be reviewed -- "attention required". I don't want people to manually skim the sheet for the conditions that require attention.

Tanya B

Agreed Star/Flag may have other significance on a sheet but it should be a checkbox option for automation. Can we please get an update on this fix. (I am working in gov version so I would hope the fix would be for all versions)

Adrian Mandile CHESS

The Checkbox column type is effectively a 'Boolean' (i.e. 1/0, true/false, on/off) type of column.

Whether it is displayed with a blue tick in a box, a red flag, or a yellow star is a matter of style/format, etc.

It SHOULD NOT affect its treatment (inclusion/exclusion) in Automation actions. I agree with @Nathan E, this is more of a bug than a feature request. And I agree with @sheetsmartsarah, that they are used differently:
• blue Checks for something you actively want/have switched on, or to indicates a positive condition
• red Flags for things you actively don't want/require, have switched off, or to indicate a negative/error condition
• yellow Stars to highlight or include something, or not

@Genevieve P. , can we please have this 'anomaly' fixed? This problem has been raised multiple times in different threads and should be treated as a correction of errant behaviour, not treated as a product idea for improvement that has to wait for the next roadmap update. A Product Idea for improvement would be to allow multiple Change Cell or Clear Cell actions to follow each other, like some of the other actions.

@Andrée Starå, @Paul Newcome, could you please get behind this and help vote up/support a Product Fix?