Reports Not Updating

Sandra Guzman

Hi Smartsheet Community,

I may have found a potential bug related to the recent release.

Some of my reports are not updating as expected and I have checked my source documents for the helper columns that are tracking tasks that were due the previous week, due this week and due next week. The formula is working appropriately in all my source documents. Unfortunately my reports are not updating to reflect the correct items due and it seems to have stopped working this week.

I have already sent a message to Smartsheet Support (via form below).

https://help.smartsheet.com/contact?_ga=2.152580476.433239577.1614001766-66022721.1614001766

Anyone else experiencing something similar? I would strongly suggest that you submit a ticket to Smartsheet Support.

Best regards,

Sandra

Paul Newcome

Do any of your formulas contain the TODAY function?

Robin Brown

I'm having a similar issue within Control Center and yes, my formula contains the TODAY function.

Paul Newcome

@Robin Brown It may not be the Control Center then but the TODAY function. It does not update unless the sheet has been activated.

For example...

If you have a checkbox set to be marked for anything in the past

=IF(Date@row < TODAY(), 1)

And in your date column is today's date, if that sheet is not activated tomorrow, then the TODAY function will not update and in turn your boxes won't be checked. If that checkbox is driving your report, then the rows won't show up on your report until the sheet is activated.

Is it possible that this could be the issue?

Andrew Stills

@Sandra Guzman & @Robin Brown I had a similar problem with the RGYB symbols not updating for reports unless the sheet had been opened. Although some users suggested adding a date to helper column and running an automation to update the date every night, this threw off my "Date of Last Activity" variable by making it look like every project had been opened every day.

@Ryan Sides (giving credit where credit is due) mentioned he had noticed toggling the Lock Row variable does not effect the auto populated "Last Modified On" column and suggested I try toggling the Lock/Unlock through a nightly workflow... it solved my problem wonderfully. No Helper sheet needed, no other dates getting interfered with, no changes to my sheets when it is completed.

Here's a screen grab with an example of the automation I now put into all my templates. Try it and see if it helps solve your TODAY() function issue... and please let us know!

Paul Newcome

@Andrew Stills I do something similar except I use a Record A Date automation to just put today's date in every row in a hidden column.

I also see that "- -" in your condition. That wouldn't happen to be used for inserting line breaks would it?

Andrew Stills

Hey @Paul Newcome, thanks for the feedback. I started to try the record a date automation, but, as mentioned in my first it was throwing off my Last Modified On column. In my case, I'm less concerned about the individual row and try to get a last modified date for the whole sheet to show recent activity. I pull the most recent date for the Last Modified On column to show this. The Record a Date option changes the row and triggers a change to the Last Modified On column and makes my projects all look worked on each day. In this case, it doesn't work. However, I definitely see how it could work under different circumstances.

Thanks for the feedback!

And, yes, I use the - - for inserting line breaks. I've found a simpler method using the ANSI character, but the - - is part of my template and I've used it for numerous other workflows, so it would be too much trouble to change it at this point.

Paul Newcome

@Andrew Stills Ah. I missed the part about the Modified column. Yes. The record a date will definitely modify that. I very rarely use that column since usually the daily update for the TODAY function is changing something somewhere else on the sheet such as tracking how many days open, etc. which makes the Modified column not very helpful for me.

I use CHAR(10) for line breaks NOW, but previously used the - - method. I just hadn't seen it in a while and it kinda took me back. Haha.

Andrew Stills

Yep... CHAR(10) is what I use now as well. Since you mentioned it, I switched the line breaking method in my template (will make thing a little cleaner)... however, I'll have to keep it in the helper column since I've used it to tag a number of different items through the years.