How to write notification so it only occurs on change to field, not on row creation?

22Wordsmith

I set up a notification for some users to be emailed when Lead Unit changed to theirs but they are receiving notices about new entries assigned to them as well. How do I write the notification to trigger only on a change to existing text, please?

My thinking was to check anything that was more than 24 hours old and send an alert if lead unit changed to the users' team.

I've started with a date field (date created) trigger but conditions are only offering Lead Unit is, not Lead Unit changes, which was the option in trigger.

Grateful for any advice.

KPH

Hi @22Wordsmith

Have you tried setting a workflow like this:

It only sends when the Lead Unit changes not when new rows are added to the sheet. If you have tried this and it doesn't work, try deleting the rows in your current sheet as if they have been "touched" they might be deemed to have been created already. Then use the fresh untouched rows.

If that doesn't work you could try an automation on row added that changes a cell value in a column such as "1st lead" and places a 1 there. Then add a condition to the alert workflow to not alert if "1st lead" is 1.

22Wordsmith

Thanks for this suggestion. Sorry to report that this picks up new material as well as alterations, which is not what is required.

KPH

Did you try deleting the empty rows so they weren't "reused"?

Did adding the second automation also not work?

If both of those options failed, can you share a screenshot of your sheet so we can see why this is not working in your situation? I've tried a few things to see if I can replicate what you are experiencing, such as adding column formulas, and auto-numbers, but have been unsuccessful. My automations only send on row updates. Seeing your sheet might reveal something.

22Wordsmith

Hi @KPH I've mocked up a copy of my sheet below and include a screenshot of the workflow summary:

I need a way to alert Team B if Demo 003 is changed to that team but not if Demo 005 were to come in and be assigned to Team B as new material. Most of my information is filled from drop-down menus. I'm not sure if that is making a difference to the outcome.

I wanted to send a daily list but the system says this is not possible, perhaps because I customised the message to provide a {{Reference}} to the changed material.

Thanks for your patience on this.

KPH

Were you able to try deleting the blank rows from your sheet and then adding a new row to see if that solved the problem? It could be that new rows are being mistaken as existing if they have been touched in the past, and therefore triggering alerts when they should not.

I have tested drop downs, autonumbers, column formula that = auto numbers, and system generated dates, and have not found them to cause an issue.

22Wordsmith

Hi @KPH

As you suggested, I've deleted the blank rows on my demo copy and added new material. I also changed existing material and now I'm not getting any type of notification from the workflow.

KPH

When you look at the workflow, does it show as having run, or any errors?

22Wordsmith

I don't know what changed but the demo copy automation has worked successfully this time! Yay. Thanks again for your patience, @KPH

KPH

Great news!