Cell Links and Alert Automation: Sending Cells That Have NOT Changed

Kiye

Hello,
Having trouble with an automation workflow. It's sending a list for contacts that haven't changed.

Sheet Set Up:

• Work Due Date
• Contact [Cell Link Inbound: Pulls in the most current email contact list for assignee]
• Work Complete Check Box

The Automation:

• Trigger
  • When Rows Are Changed and
  • When Contact changes to Any Value
• Conditions:
  • Contact is not Blank
  • Work Due Date is in the next 21 days.
  • Work Complete Check Box is not checked.
• Alert
  • The Contact in the Cell

Result: If a change occurred anywhere in the task list (even beyond 21 days) it will send an email to all contacts within the next 21 days.

Testing:
Even if 1 cell updated via the Cell Link (Inbound) within the 21-day window, it will send to everyone else that haven't been changed.

Edit to Add:
Even in Cell History - the last TRUE change for majority of the contact list was 8/15. There should have been 7 changes within the last 24-hours.

We've used this setup before, and it would only send the alert to the contact that changed instead.

Thoughts?

Lucas Rayala

Hi @Kiye, unless things have changed recently, you can't set an automation that's triggered by a cell with a formula. For some reason, Smartsheet will allow you to do it, but it won't work correctly. What can go wrong is that the cells formula may "blink", going from a value to a null, then back. I believe that would technically trigger the automation and can get messy. You may have more luck using a time-based automation. Instead of "when a cell changes", use the time-based option and set it to trigger once a day when your criteria are met.