Error reports

Garmon D

Is it possible to create or set up an alert to let me know of any errors (No Match/ Blocked etc) on sheets that I own? I have a number of sheets that are filled in by a lot of people, and it can be difficult to identify errors quickly.

Paul Newcome

You can create a helper column (I use checkboxes personally) called Error. You can then enter the following formula and dragfill on down.

 

=IF(ISERROR([First Column Name]@row:[Last Column Name]@row), 1)

 

This will check the box if there is an error in that row. You can then build your report to look across all sheets and display rows where that box is checked. You can then either edit directly in the report or have the report display the sheet name and a unique row id (if already set-up). You can click on the sheet name to go to that sheet and use the row id to find the corresponding row within that sheet.

Garmon D

Hmm, thanks - I hadn't though of doing it that way - I'll build it into the next bunch of sheets.

Andrée Starå

Paul,

Nicely done! Great solution!

Best,

Andrée

Paul Newcome

Honestly, this would be pretty straight forward to implement into existing sheets. Add two columns. One would be the checkbox column. The other would be the ID column. For the checkbox column, put the formula in the first row and dragfill. For the ID column, use an auto number type column. That one will auto populate as soon as you save. Then adjust your report columns to include the row ID.

 

If you really wanted to go crazy with it, you could add an additional row (top or bottom doesn't matter), re-enter the column names across that row, then work in an INDEX/MATCH system that will end up giving you the Sheet, Row, Column and exact Error right there in the report. Probably overkill, but sometimes I get a little carried away. Haha.

Paul Newcome

Thanks Andree.

 

I've been dubbed the SS guru here at the office, so naturally I get an email whenever anything needs fixed. I started building this into sheets that I build for others here about a month ago because people were insisting I had messed something up somewhere. This allowed me to quickly track down the initial error and get it fixed in a timely manner and in turn get back to my real job dealing with clients a little bit faster. Hahaha.