Create an alert when there is no activity in the sheet

Shikha

If there is no activity in the sheet in the past "X" days, we should be able to create an automation to alert someone. It is really important for the sheets that are updating automatically so if the automation is broken, the user can be notified,

Tim Starkey

Voting in support. This is already possible if you can add a formula to your sheet, but I still think it would be a nice add to the workflows.

I do something similar using a helper column or static cell in my sheet to collect the most recent modified date. I use the formula below:

=LARGE(Modified:Modified, 1)

Then set a workflow based on that date.

I use it to send update requests if someone hasn't updated a row in a certain number of days. An automation will also update the modified date.

Shikha

Thanks! LARGE only looks at numbers in the given range. I am getting #INVALID COLUMN VALUE error since the modified column has date and time.

Tim Starkey

Hmmm.... LARGE should work... I have it pointing to a 'date modified' column with a date+time. It may be where you are placing the formula... if you are using it in a non-date column, I think you need to use the following formula to convert the output to text

=(LARGE(Modified:Modified, 1)) + ""

I am not sure, but the #INVALID COLUMN VALUE may be coming because you are trying to put a date in a text column. Below shows how it's setup in our sheets. I am not running a workflow from this date, so used a summary row at the top in a text field.

Not sure if you can trigger a workflow from a date recorded in a text field... so would need to create a helper date column, or if you have summary rows at the top you could leverage an existing date column you already have. see below.

Then workflow would look something like this...

Hope that helps!

Shikha

Thanks much! You are correct. I was putting date in the text column. :(