Update requests to more than a person

Jose da Silva

Hi all,

 

I have a spreadsheet that has set up an "Update request".

Now, that same update request was set up to notify both myself and my colleague (since i was on annual leave recently, so nothing was getting left behind).

What happens is, since there are 2 people in the automation, the update request only gets cleared either if both reply to it, or if one of us deletes the request considering that the other already replied.

 

Is it possible to keep the both of us in the automation, but the update request only requires one reply?

Christopher Brown

I believe this is a "First one wins" scenario. If you initiate the same update request to the one person and they complete it, the second would get an error that it has already been done (I believe). What you could do is save a copy of your sheet and test it. I have done the update request to two people in two ways:

 

1) Create a contact column and use an automated trigger. You'd have two contacts listed in the single cell. 

2) Select the row and populate two target emails. 

 

I believe you'd get the same result either way but I would suggest testing it with a sheet copy first. 

Andrée Starå

Hi Jose,

If you're sending the Update Request with Automation and include two recipients, it will create two update requests and when and only the one that answered would be changed to complete. Both can answer and if the first one adds/changes anything, the second would see that updated information.

Hope that helps!

Have a fantastic day!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

Jose da Silva

Hi all,

 

Thank you for your replies.

I understand and i am aware that the update gets saved and we can see it.

My issue is more visual. Unless both reply to the update request, an icon of "update request" pending will always be in the row. Not sure if we can make that go away just after one of us replies.

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

Unfortunately, as far as I know, it's not possible at the moment, but it's a great idea!

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.

I'll get back to the post if think of something else.

Hope that helps!

Paul Newcome

Andree is correct. If two requests are sent (even if it the same one sent to two people), the icon will remain until both reply or the "second" request is manually cancelled.

 

However...

 

Now that we can finally use formulas in a contact column, you could have a checkbox somewhere that is checked when you are available and unchecked when you are not.

 

You can then use a basic IF statement to populate your email address into a contact column if the box is checked, but if the box is not, populate the other email address.

 

You can then set the Update Request to send to the email address in that column.

 

This will send a single Update Request to you if you are available (the box is checked) or your coworker if you are unavailable (box is unchecked).

.

This idea can also be scaled up to account for numerous people and their backups using a directory and cross sheet references.

Andrée Starå

Don't know why I didn't think of this. I just did set up something similar for a client. 

Paul Newcome

I just so happen to be setting up something very similar, so it was pretty fresh on my mind. Haha

Christopher Brown

Interesting learnings guys...thanks for these. I guess my hunch was wrong. I'll have to play with this some more to multiple parties to get familiar with all the nuances. 

Andrée Starå

Happy to share, help and learn!