Copy Row Automation Not Working

Taylor Riley

Hi All,

I was able to successfully build out and execute the Copy Row Automation on a test sheet. After trying to implement this on the live pages, it is no longer working. I'm able to manually copy the cells over, but the Automation is not working. Any troubleshooting suggestions? I am the Admin of both sheets and have compared the cell names on both and everything is matching

David Tutwiler

Can you provide screenshots of the logic on the live page that isn't working?

Taylor Riley

Hi David,

This is the automation that I have setup in the "Automation Form". I have 3 sheets:

1. Request Form - Holds the data from form entries submitted by the users
2. Automation Form - Uses INDEX/MATCH to pull the information from all Request Form fields for the most recent entry
3. Assessment Sheet - Where I want the automation form to copy to so that both the request and the subtasks for each back office team auto populate without having to manually bring over the request details.

Paul Newcome

How is the [Task Name] field populated?

Taylor Riley

@Paul Newcome, It is using the INDEX/MATCH formula to pull in the name from the form.

Paul Newcome

That may be the issue. I have had issues in the past with automations running off of cell links/cross sheet references.

Try inserting a checkbox column and using a formula to check the box when the criteria is met then run your automation off of that.

Taylor Riley

I'm not sure which formula to use. I would want the box to check whenever new information is generated. Is there a formula that will track a change in text?

David Tutwiler

Something like:

=IF([Task Name]@row "", 1, 0)

Taylor Riley

I'm Getting the #Unparseable error. I also tried =IF([Task Name]@row = "", 1, 0) but that isn't checking the box

Paul Newcome

My apologies. I didn't realize you were looking for any change in that specific field. In my experience [Task Name] has always been "set" data and would not change once added. I was thinking you were using the trigger as when it changed FROM blank to something else.

What are you using for the unique id for each for (for the INDEX/MATCH)? Can you provide more detail as to how everything works and is supposed to be working together?

Taylor Riley

Hey Paul,

This thread shows how I set this up: https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/71047/how-to-auto-populate-subtasks-from-information-coming-in-from-a-new-form-entry#latest

I was originally having problems getting the automation to work in my Test sheet. I started using the Request Number as the automation trigger and that eventually worked.

After implementing these changes into the live sheets, I'm still running into the same problem. I had changed the trigger to be the [Date Created.] as originally suggested but that still isn't working, either.

Appreciate you looking into this!

Paul Newcome

Ok. Give me a little time to dig through and piece everything together, and I will get back to you once I am able to think of something or if I have further questions. Work is a little busy at the moment, so it may take me a little time to get through everything.

Taylor Riley

I really appreciate it! I'll also keep messing around with it. If I'm able to identify the problem I'll let you know so you don't waste any time on this.

Paul Newcome

I think I understand what you are working with, but are you able to provide screenshots with sensitive/confidential data removed, blocked, and/or replaced with mock data where appropriate?

To me it sounds like you have a form submitted to sheet 1. Sheet 2 pulls the most recent entry into a pre-built set of parent/child rows. You then want to use automation to copy this set of parent/child rows over to sheet 3 which will essentially automatically generate and "lock in" a set of parent/child rows per form submission on sheet 1.

Is that correct?

Taylor Riley

Hi Paul,

Your understanding is 100% correct. I have checked that the columns on each sheet match, accounting for a systems column having the same name between sheets. I don't have proofing enabled on any of the sheets.. So I'm at a loss of trouble shooting ideas on what may be blocking this. It's hard to pull screenshots has the forms/sheets have over 100 columns. Could this be a limitation?

Taylor Riley

@Paul Newcome, here is the screenshot of the automation that I have setup: