Today Function - Updating Issues

Tlabeau

I am having a heck of a time with the today function not updating. I have tried automations to record date, and automations to lock and unlock. They both seem to work intermittently, the lock and unlock intermittently won't unlock. The date recording seems to be recording the date fine, but the reports that get emailed out, still intermittently do not update. This has been extremely frustrating as it causes inaccuracies in data; honestly it makes me look pretty silly and inept.

Does anybody have any solutions that might help me, or perhaps workarounds to completely replace the today function entirely.

I appreciate your time and your assistance.

Paul Newcome

Have you checked the timing between when the record a date automation runs and when the reports get sent out?

Tlabeau

Hey Paul, Thanks for the response. Currently I have the date recording function set to 3 am, and the report set to 5 am. I can move them as needed if you think that it could be a root of my issue.

Paul Newcome

That should be enough time in between. Have you checked the activity log of the sheet? That should let you know when the record a date automation is in fact running. I have read a few other posts these past few weeks of other users having similar issues getting the TODAY function to update, but I personally have yet to see it in any of my sheets.

Tlabeau

I just checked it, It is definitely running, and has been running. I have my reports on all my sheets set to go out at 5, and my automations set to 3. Most of them work fine, It seems to be intermittent, though this particular one seems to have more issues then the other ones. Perhaps i should make a new sheet for that particular data? Or maybe there is another way to email out the report instead of the automation?

I honestly had no problems at all with any reports until about a month ago, then I started to have issues all over with it not updating. I saw your post on another persons question about the lock and unlock, that worked for a little while but intermittently it would not unlock sometimes. Which caused its own issues. Then I tried date recording which worked for a while, but it has not been reliable this week. I'm pulling my hair out over this today function, I am not sure why it is giving me so much trouble.

Paul Newcome

What exactly do you mean when you say you are sending out reports via automation?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Tlabeau

Can you clarify if you are using a Summary Field to surface the changes? Eg. if the Record a Date is in a different sheet but the Sheet Summary field is linking to that date (instead of the grid of the current sheet being updated by the workflow).

Tlabeau

Hey Paul, I have certain rows and columns that send out via email to people as kind of an automation report. These go out daily to keep certain groups appraised as to what is going on. I am not sure what the actual wording is for that.

Hello Genevieve, so I actually added the record the date to all of my active sheets, tied to a today column. I have hidden the column on my sheets though, if that makes a difference. The activity log does show that the date is being recorded though.

Thank both of you for your help and your time.

Paul Newcome

"the record the date to all of my active sheets, tied to a today column"

Are you using the TODAY function in your formulas, or are you referencing the [Today Column] in your formulas?

For example, if I wanted one week from today, I would usually use either

=TODAY(7)

or

=TODAY() + 7

Are you using something more along the lines of

=[Today Column]@row + 7

in your formulas?

Tlabeau

Oh that could be a game changer, I never thought to use the column. I have been using the formula. Today() + 7

Do you think that would solve my problem?

Paul Newcome

I have always used the function. I don't like using the column because it causes errors to appear when creating a new row until the Record a Date automation runs.