How to setup alerts to notify others, not the one making the change?

Hello,

In a sheet where there is an "Assigned to" column that can be multiple contacts. If individuals A, B, C are assigned a task on Row 1 and individual A makes a change to the row, how can you setup the alert automation to inform individuals B and C of the change and not A?

Thanks,

Casey

Answers

  • Tana Rucker
    Tana Rucker Overachievers Alumni

    @CStorme, I do not know of a way to do this. A few options:

    • Perhaps list the contacts in separate columns, if relevant. That way, you could choose which of the three columns you'd like to notify (i.e. one or both). Pitfall would be if it's an approval workflow.
    • You could also parse out your existing contact column into a second column, omitting the relevant contact in the list, and notifying the new column instead.

    There are a few other ways, but I'm thinking one of those two would be the most relevant.

    I hope that helps!

    Tana Rucker

    Charter Communications

    https://www.linkedin.com/in/tanarucker/

  • Andrée Starå
    Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi @CStorme

    To add to Tana's excellent answer.

    Maybe we could use the Modified By column to filter/not include the one who made the changes.

    Would that work/help?

    I hope that helps!

    Be safe and have a fantastic weekend!

    Best,

    Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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  • CStorme
    CStorme ✭✭

    Hi @Andrée Starå & @Tana Perkins,

    Thank you both with the quick replies. Unfortunately, I don't think that incorporation of additional columns is suitable at scale for our purposes.

    I did look into adding a condition, but the drop downs do not line up for this purpose. Currently the Conditions drop down for "Modified by" include "is one of; is not equal to..." all of which then require the user to either select the email from the modified by or add information to a text field.

    A possible solution would be if one selected Condition/Modified by/"is not equal to"/ with a drop down with the selection if "Assigned to", however, this would only work if there was one contact in the assigned to column. But, if this feature was enabled, I am suspect you could create a more complex workflow to alert other individuals that are assigned to a given task, but did not provide the update.

    This is an important features since a user who has provided an update is not unnecessarily receiving additional emails or alerts for an update that they are clearly aware of given, they provided the update.

    If you have any other thoughts on how to make this work within the current structure please let me know, otherwise this would be a good addition moving forward.

    Thanks,

    Casey

  • Andrée Starå
    Andrée Starå ✭✭✭✭✭✭
    edited 09/27/20

    @CStorme

    You're more than welcome!

    I'll get back to the post if I think of some other way to solve it.

    SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER

    Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

    W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35

    Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.