Include Previous Value in Workflow Notification

Kayla Wootten

I have a sheet that has all of our current projects, and one of the columns is Ship Date. We have a workflow so that some of us are alerted when this Ship Date changes.

Currently, we just have the message saying "The ship date is now {{Ship Date}} for {{Job Name}}."

Is there a way to include the previous value (date) that was entered?

For example, "The ship date for {{Job Name}} has changed from {{Previous Ship Date}} to {{New Ship Date}}."

Mark Cronk

Hi @Kayla Wootten ,

I don't thank that's possible. The previous entry is stored in the cell history but there's no way to reference that in an automation.

Mark

Andrée Starå

Hi @Kayla Wootten

I hope you're well and safe!

Here's a possible workaround or workarounds

Please have a look at my post below with a method I developed. You could use it to store the previous value in a so-called helper column, and then you could include that in the alert.

More info: 

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/68589/lock-or-store-date-value-solution-without-using-zapier

Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Mark Cronk

@Andrée Starå - brilliant. Bookmarked.

Mark