Question

Hi, I don't seem to be able to find a way to do both of these in one workflow. When certain triggers are met, I'd like to check a box in column A, AND record the date in column B. However, currently smartsheet allows me to just choosing one of those, not both. To be more specific, if I go with "change cell value", it does allow me to change the value for multiple columns, however not date columns, just text, dropdown, etc.

I can potentially make a duplicate of this workflow and let the box-checking and date recording happen in two workflows, not one. But since there are multiple triggers to manage, I'd like to keep them together instead of in separate workflows, if possible.

Thanks,

Qing

amhba · Accepted Answer

Unfortunately, you would need to maintain a separate workflow step, as "Change Cell Value" and "Record a Date" are "terminating" actions, meaning, nothing can come after them in the workflow.

We chain these together, in our use case with an Approval workflow recording the date as the terminating event for each of Approve or Reject, and then either setting a Status in a third column based on that result, e.g., create a new rule that triggers when Reviewer's result = "Approve" and there is a Date value set, then change your other column.

We keep track of these in "branches" for each workflow stage and track them using IDs roughly corresponding to their order in the workflow plus a descriptive name, e.g., Rule 01.02: Set Reviewer 1 Date on Approve or Reject; Rule 01.03: Set Main Status based on Date of Reviewer 1 Approve or Reject

I did not like this approach at first, but have found advantages to keeping these in separate workflows: It can offer more control over a workflow that could potentially branch in different directions without having to manually maintain every possible permutation. This makes the workflows more like a set of rules that can be independently evaluated at any time, rather than a rigid decision tree that must always be evaluated in strict sequence.