Is there a way to troubleshoot automated emails not being sent consistently?

Elliott Shrader

I have a smartsheet for accepting new work orders. I have an automation that emails the submitter know once their work order has been assigned. I am getting complaints from the submitters that they are not always getting the emails. I am not sure how to approach the problem. I cant figure out if the Activity Log records when emails have been sent out. I would also like to know if there are ways to improve the logic in my automation to make it trigger more consistently (maybe build in some kind of delay?)

Holden J

Hey @Elliott Shrader,

Here are a couple different steps I've walked through with my own automations that have improved my email automations:

Email Deliverability Issues:

• Spam/Junk Folders: Ask the submitters to check their spam or junk mail folders. Sometimes automated emails end up there, especially if they're not recognized by the recipient's email provider.

• Email Address: Ensure that the correct email address is being used in the automation. A simple typo can cause the email to go undelivered.
• Domain Whitelisting: For businesses, sometimes their IT departments have stringent email filtering rules. If the emails are being blocked at the company level, you might need to ask the IT department to whitelist Smartsheet's email sending domain.

Review Your Automation Logic:

• Trigger Condition: Ensure that the conditions for triggering the automation are correct and as intended. For instance, if the email is meant to be sent when a status changes to "Assigned", ensure that the trigger reflects that accurately.
• Delay: Building in a delay can sometimes help, especially if you have multiple automations running simultaneously. For example, if another automation is making changes to the row immediately after the work order is assigned, this could interfere with the email automation. Introducing a delay can help ensure the email is triggered after all other actions are complete.

Feedback Loop:

• Ask the submitters for feedback: Whenever they don’t receive an email, have them provide details such as the date, time, and any related work order information. This will help you identify patterns or potential issues in your workflow.

These steps should assist you in narrowing down the issue and potentially improving your automation efficiency. Hopefully this helps a little bit!!!! 😊

--- Holden

Elliott Shrader

Thank you. The more this problem is happening the more I am convinced it is because I am using the same trigger for three automations and a delay would be helpful. The trigger is a box being checked in a column by our admin assistant. This 1) triggers an automation that generates a document of the submission responses, 2) Emails the person the submission is assigned to, and 3) emails the submitter.

I would like to delay the emails but I can't figure out a way to do it. I can record a date via automation but I don't want to delay any of these tasks that long. I have tried a few formulas to record a timestamp for when the box gets checked but I can't seem to get the formulas to work This is one of them: =IF([Check Box] = 1, NOW(), "")

I know if I use the "move rows" action I can get a time stamp on another sheet, but that seems an overly complicated route to me. I am trying to make things simple and if I have to start building cross sheet formulas, I worry I will only make the problem worse.

Is there a simpler way to build in a 5 minute delay?

Genevieve P.

Hey @Elliott Shrader

If you're using the same trigger for all 3 actions, I would recommend having all 3 actions in the same workflow instead of multiple, separate ones.

To do this, I would have the two Alert / Email actions set up before generating the document:

Cheers,

Genevieve

Elliott Shrader

Oh I hadn't thought to try that. Thanks!