Automated Date/Time Tri!gger and Alert Not Working

Christina C

Hi

I am completley stumped with this issue. I have done this setup several times and it's not working with this one. Simple date trigger once a week on Fridays at 4:00 EST to a list of folks with a short message only.

What could be the problem? Thanks for you help!

Kelly Moore

Hello @Christina C

We need a bit more to go on to help with your alert not working. Was the automation working previously and it stopped working? Is it possible to share screenshots of your automation trigger and conditions, as well as relevant screenshots of your sheet (with sensitive data removed), particularly if the trigger is based on a formula cell?

Kelly

Christina C

@Kelly Moore - sorry I hit Save prematurely. All info now included above. It is a new automation. Today was it's ingural launch.

Kelly Moore

Hey @Christina C

Is it possible that the actual time you saved the workflow was too close to the trigger time? According to smartsheet documentation, automations can sometimes take up to 15min to trigger after a sheet is saved. Is it possible you were too close to the 4pm so the trigger passed? Did you try to set the time for a future run, at least just for one run to see if the automation actually runs?

Kelly

Christina C

@Kelly Moore - I set the trigger time and automation several days before. I did another test with the trigger 30 minutes prior and still did not work. I will continue to test this week. Thanks for the info on the 15 minute window, I was not aware of that!

Kelly Moore

Hey @Christina C

Your flow should have worked, and typically, flows work on time. Have you tried the Run Now option and clicking the sending only to yourself? You can find that in the 3 dots beside the Edit workflow button

Are the people you are trying to send to within your organization?

Kelly

Christina C

Hi @Kelly Moore - ran another test today and it worked however set the trigger for 10:00 am and it came through at 10:15 am. Thinking that the delay is due to server traffic possibly. At least I know I'm not going crazy! And yes I did have to manually run it Friday because folks were waiting for it.

Thanks for you help!

mtp105

I am having this issues too, with a workflow not working based on a date/time trigger. I have it set up to copy a row (the row with Date column cell is "today"). It works when I run it manually, but I have had it set up for months and it has never run by itself, but always works when I run it manually. I run it hours after it was supposed to trigger, so not close to the trigger time.

The row that's being copied is the only row in the sheet, which has calculations in it, so we just want to take a snapshot of it on a monthly basis and put it in another sheet with ongoing monthly updates. I just chose the Date column since it's a formula for today's date, and is the only unique column in the sheet to designate which row to copy to the other sheet. Is there another Condition that would work to copy this one row?

Any other thoughts or help would be appreciated!

Andrée Starå

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/434039#Comment_434039

Hi,

I hope you're well and safe!

Do you have something like the below to ensure that the sheet is updated daily?

Please have a look at my post below with a method I developed to update the sheet(s) daily.

More info: 

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/74527/daily-update-solution-without-the-need-to-open-the-sheet-use-zapier-or-similar

Did that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up, Awesome, or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

mtp105

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/434133#Comment_434133

Thanks Andree! I did not have that in the sheet, so I'll give it a try and do a test.