Close Pending Update Requests when a new update request is sent

Ramsay Zaki

I need to send out an automated Update Request weekly. However, I have noticed that whenever someone does not action last week's Update Request and this week's gets sent, Smartsheet now thinks there are two update requests pending. So, even if the person does update using this week's update link, the Update Request icon still appears because of last week's request (which will never get actioned).

I would like to automatically close the previous Update Request whenever a new one is sent. There doesn't appear to be a native way to do this from within Smartsheet... so I'm considering using Microsoft Flow (Power Automate) to do this. But, before I go down that rabbit hole, I wanted to see if anyone else had any ideas.

I have tried sending the recurring update request in two different ways... using Sheet Automation (trigger = date) and also by setting a schedule on the Update Request screen itself. Unfortunately, both create an additional update request and don't close out the previous pending requests.

Andrée Starå

Hi Ramsay,

As a possible workaround, you could maybe have a condition that wouldn't send another one until the previous one is completed and instead send an Alert or similar that they need to complete the one that was sent.

Make sense?

Would that work?

I hope that helps!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Ramsay Zaki

How would that work. Since there is no option in Automation to check for Pending Update Requests, how would I check that before sending the next one?

Andrée Starå

We would need to have a condition that checks that something has changed/gotten updated from the previous one.

Make sense? Would that work?