Automated workflow (email alerts) stopped working

Genevieve P.

Hi @Jennifer Bailor

I would try creating a clone of the workflow and duplicating it to see if this duplicate will work. If not, then try creating a copy of the entire sheet with save-as-new in case it's sheet-related.

If this hasn't worked, Dani's suggestion of other workflows stopping this one could be relevant... would you be able to post images of your workflows? (But please block out any sensitive data!)

Cheers,

Genevieve

Jennifer Bailor

@Genevieve P , I have duplicated as well as rebuilt. I have gone through all of the steps Smartsheet Support provided me, but it's still not working. Is there somewhere I can read about workflows impacting one another to see if that is the cause?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Jennifer Bailor

We have Help Articles on the different types of workflows (see here) but nothing specifically on the behaviour when there are multiple workflows on one sheet, since there are a large number of variables in that instance.

What I would like to check is to see if there are other workflows that are triggered at the same time as this checkbox one. Dani's example is a good one: if you have a move row workflow for when something is modified, and and you have an alert that is sent with a Checkbox is checked, then the row will move before the Alert workflow has time to read the change and send the Alert.

You'll also want to review your trigger to ensure that the actions you're taking are the exact same as what will actually send the alert. For example, if you set the trigger to be when something is only changed, then if a new row is added & the checkbox is checked at the same time as the new addition, no alert will be sent. You will want to ensure that this says when rows are added or changed, instead.

If you have completed all the steps that Support has provided and the issue still persists, please respond back to their email to let them know about this so they can troubleshoot with you further. You may also want to provide them with your telephone number and timezone in case this would be best shown over a screen share.

Sarah_lee123

@Jennifer Bailor I have been having the same issue to no avail. I have tried all trouble shooting methods mentioned above and have also cleared my cookies and searched for filters on my email. I am at a loss, please let me know if you crack the code.

Sarah

Lisa Vercellone

I am also having the same issue. An email notification that was working suddenly no longer works. I discovered it when I added a second email notification copied from the first. The second one never worked and when I tested the fist one, that one also wasn't working (no email, no notification within the SmartSheet). II also have tried all the the trouble shooting tips and they are still not working. I was hoping to find further information on here. Guess I will have to put in a ticket.

Lisa

Andrée Starå

Hi @Lisa Vercellone & @Sarah_lee123

There was a delay in the delivery recently. Is it working again?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

JohnHarris1972

I'm having identical issues. None of our alert emails are being delivered. Even ones that have worked for 1+ years have stopped working. 7/25 was the last notification received. I don't believe this to be an end user issue since so many people are experiencing the same issue. Smartsheet, please investigate your end.

Andrée Starå

@JohnHarris1972

Can it be a email domain issue?

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/69408/action-needed-add-new-smartsheet-email-domains-to-your-trusted-sender-list

Mike McNamara

There are a number of different threads on this topic, and I have spent a lot of time over the past few weeks troubleshooting this. Thought I would comment here as this one has the most information.

Some things I have found out doing a lot of testing:

As Dani mentioned, make sure you do not have 2 workflows triggered on the same action. I had one to request an update and another to do an alert. The request update was triggering but not the alert. When I disabled the request update, the alert started triggering.

I tried to have one workflow that requests an update and also sends an alert (2 actions). No good. Only the request would occur. I don't know if this is some sort of Smartsheet limitation or not.

Workflows would not trigger Alert someone when a field was updated through a formula. For example, I had a workflow that should run when a checkbox field became "checked". The formula worked fine and the box changed to checked, but the Alert never occurred. There seems to be something that prevents Alert Someone on fields driven by a formula.

Interestingly, when I copied the automation above and had it do a Request Update instead of Alert Someone, it ran fine. So there seems to be something about Alert Someone that does not always work. This right now is my workaround to notifying someone, to use an update request, and having it link to update just one field that is not part of the overall data (so it doesn't matter if they update or not - they at least get the notification email). It is not ideal, but it works.

Also similar to above, copying the workflow and using a field that is manually checked (i.e. I check the box and then Save the sheet) does trigger the Alert someone to to occur.

My Notifications and my emails are totally in sync - if I don't get an email, there is also no notification, which seems to indicate a failure in the automation, not any other setting like personal notifications or email restrictions (plus my tests have proved I can get email notifications on some conditions).

I have not tried creating a new sheet and starting over with automations to see if I get different results, that is a lot of work and I have to try to get this project done. I'd expect the same results, but who knows?

So, not sure I really have any answers but thought I would share this with everyone. It is pretty frustrating to not have what seems like simple workflows not act consistently. I really cannot explain why the automations do not seem to be consistent.

Gee114

I am having the same issue. I have several workflows for sending notifications and requesting approval that worked fine yesterday, Aug 31, and today, Sep 1, none of the workflows work. NONE. I have checked my settings. I have checked the triggers, the conditions, the email addresses and I can not find the issue. I also noticed that some rows fields are automatically populating and locking, and I didn't create this workflow. I submitted a request for help to their support team as well. Did anyone find a solution?

Catherine Williams

@Mike McNamara - Mike I also had an issue with the "Alert" someone as it would not send the alert but as soon as I added a "request an update" to the same workflow it worked.

Thanks for that tip!