How to request update only for certain people?

Jeremy Oesch

Hello,

I am making a ticket tracker sheet and am not able to figure out this road bump. I have a sheet where there is "additional information" column. When i type in that cell I have it automated to where it will be sent back to the requestor with the "Request and Update" email option where they can then type in the additional info part to respond back to me. I just ran into the problem where when they type in the box and it changes it sends it back to them again with my question and their response, since i have the tigger set to any value. I really don't want to make a whole separate column for just their response as i already have a lot columns. I basically want it to where it only sends if I am to input info into the cell or a way for it to work as intended. Is there an easy work around I am not seeing?

Scott Orsey

HI @Jeremy Oesch , Have you considered including the "modified by" column as a condition in your automation?

Jeremy Oesch

@Scott Orsey,

Great idea, I just tried and realized that it would work but I am not the only one using it. It would be about 7-8 Admins on the sheet all completing tickets. Unless I am not thinking about it right then I am unsure how to make it so just the admins are the trigger? Its currently not used by anyone but me (still creating it) so i can't choose the modified by people specifically.

Scott Orsey

Hi @Jeremy Oesch , There are a number of ways you could potentially tackle this problem. If you like the idea of using user names as part of your filter, then you could set up an administration sheet that lists user names in a contact column and then role(s) in another column. Then you could use cross-sheet references to pull in the names into a contact column in your main sheet and base your workflow off that.

Or, taking a big step back to your original problem... is there some other data field that would determine if the change was performed by the admin or the end user? You could, for example, have the admin flip a flag or a status that would send it to the end user but that the end user wouldn't touch. A status column might be useful for other elements of your workflow too.

Hope this helps. Be well!

Jeremy Oesch

hi @Scott Orsey,

The first option, would that also work for the people not admin to only get notified when admin makes the changes? We wouldn't want to have a separate column that would have to be manually flipped. Could you explain the first way in more detail?

Scott Orsey

Hi @Jeremy Oesch, sorry... I didn't see your note until today.

In the first way I explained... you create an admin sheet with two columns: 1) User Name as a contact column and 2) Role.

Then in your original sheet, create a column for Role. In that column you would use cross sheet references and Index/match to pull in the role.

= INDEX({Role Column from Admin Sheet}, MATCH([Modified By]@Row,{User Name column from Admin Sheet},0))

Then, in your automation workflow, simply add a condition that would use this role information to send off the right notifications.

Hope this helps. Be well!