Multiple Problems on Same Sheet

I'm having multiple issues right now with this sheet I am trying to create for an inventory.

1: I created automations to generate documents, two different automations based on the Name of the item added. This worked but was creating multiple documents on the same row at the same time, and thus triggering an alert to a contact multiple times. I looked on the community posts, and saw the suggestion of re-creating the automation in order to solve the issue. Now, I have problem #2.

2: Recreated the automation, but was not triggering based on Row Changed with the trigger to check off a box "Received". But I was only able to generate the document by running the automation manually, even though the same trigger was causing the duplicates before. Tried to change the trigger to "Any Field" changes, but the "Any Field" selection was not showing up in the automation box. So I created a new automation again - it auto fills to "Any Field" changes, but when I go to save the automation yells at me that I need a valid trigger. So I revamped the trigger as found on another community post, on to problem 3.

3: Made the new automation with the trigger as rows added or changes and "Received" is checked, added the condition that the name should contain the proper thing and "Received" is checked. I added a new row to test this and the documents are now duplicating again.

So questions are:

Why are my documents duplicating, at the same time, and triggering duplicated alerts?
Why can't I select "Any Field" in the Trigger box for Automations?
Why isn't my Change a Cell trigger working unless I manually run it?

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Brian_Richardson

Can you please post a screenshot of your automation and a screenshot of your sheet? Then we can see about digging in to find the issue.

MHB_Admin

Hello,

This is the automation that was first created and resulted in multiple documents being added.

This is a pic of the multiple attachments - There are multiple creation dates, with the first having duplicate documents, but when manually updating only some are updated to new versions.

When preparing the new automation It opens with "Any Field"

But when saving, this it claims its invalid:

And when trying to re-select "Any Field" it is not an option:

After setting it to Receipt Complete once more, the automation duplicates the documents again when activated:

Brian_Richardson

What determines whether Receipt Complete gets checked?

Just on initial glance, you trigger the workflow when Receipt Completed gets checked, then check it again as a condition that it's checked. That shouldn't matter too much but it's a bit redundant.

You cannot leave it as "Any Field", you have to trigger on something.

MHB_Admin

A user would check off that the receipt was checked after all of the details were inputted on the sheet. This sheet would be filled out manually and not by a form submission

I had put "Receipt Complete - Checked" into the conditions because the document was generating before all of the columns were filled out unless we had a last "Check" that triggered the document to generate.

I was trying to have "Any Field" be the trigger with the condition that "Receipt Complete - Checked", since changes to the row might need an additional document generated but the receipt should already be marked "complete" if changes are made after - but I couldn't select "Any Field" even though I have other automations currently running that have "Any Field" as a trigger.

Im still not sure why its generating duplicate documents and sending an email with both documents.

Brian_Richardson

I did some testing on the automation triggers. It turns out that Update Request, Approval, and Document Generation all require actual column changes and won't accept "Any Field" as the trigger. The rest of the automations like lock rows, send alert, move row will accept Any Field as the trigger.

As a "stand-in" for Any Field you can add Modified Date as a system column and include it in your trigger.

The only catch with Modified as a trigger is that general sheet changes and other automations very well might trigger modified date to change across all rows, generating docs again. Smartsheet doesn't have a limit on the number of attachments, so it's not a huge deal but still…

Another approach would be to have an automation clear the "Receipt Complete" checkbox when the document is generated. Trigger the automation on attachment. Then ask people to check the box again if they make an update, and trigger the document generation only on the checkbox.

That still doesn't answer the question of why the documents generate twice when the checkbox is checked. My only thought is to check to ensure you don't have duplicate automations on that sheet that are both getting triggered, maybe a test automation you setup and forgot about? Does it happen if you set up a completely blank sheet with no automations on it? If not something like that, then it's probably time to reach out to Smartsheet Support, open a ticket, and have them investigate to see if it's a bug or if there's something we're missing.

MHB_Admin

I didn't think about different automations having different trigger requirements, I guess I can understand that.

I'll give the modifier suggestion a try and update with the outcome.

Thanks for the help!

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