Bulk toggling of 'Record a Date' automations

Texmati

I have nice little script to iterate through hundreds of sheets and update contact fields that lack a display_value, so that names consistently show up instead of email addresses. But there are 'record a date' automations tied to those cells that need to be turned off temporarily to avoid triggering them and overwriting the originally recorded dates.

I've only been able to get simple one-step notification automations returned by Sheets.list_automation_rules . . . any suggestions or tricks on how to approach this with the API or otherwise would be appreciated!

Lee Joramo

According to the API Documents, ONLY single step workflows are listed

Multistep workflows are not returned via the API.Instead, you'll see an error 400 - 1266: This rule is not accessible through the API.Only single-action notifications, approval requests, or update requests qualify.

https://smartsheet.redoc.ly/tag/automationRules#operation/automationrules-list

A method I have used to disable workflows is to create a checkbox column that must be checked for the workflow to run.

You would then uncheck this check box via the API on all affected rows prior to making the change to the contact's display_value. After which you would re-check the box. You might need to add a delay on re-checking the box otherwise it might still trigger the workflow.

Texmati

I'll keep that trick up my sleeve for future consideration, but since I can't revise the existing automations programmatically after the fact for hundreds of sheets at once, it's not applicable to my dilemma. When copying sheets with the api I know you can include or exclude all automations of all types. I wonder if there would be a way to copy all of the sheets without them, make the revisions, then reintroduce the automation rules.