Update Request emails not including message text?

Margaret Wood

Hello,

We're having an issue where, when update requests are sent, they don't include the message text that we set in the automation settings. Instead they have the default 'Please update my online sheet.' I've included images of the automation setting, as well as the email that gets sent:

As these update requests can be sent to customers, we want them to be professional and include all pertinent information. Is there any way to fix this?

Thanks!

Genevieve P.

Hi @Margaret Wood

Thank you for clarifying about the placeholders! That does change the behaviour, see the bullet points at the bottom of Help Article here: Dynamically Add Cell Data in the Subject and Body of Request Messages

"When using placeholders with Alert or Update Request actions in change-based workflows, placeholders will generate separate notifications if six or fewer rows are triggered simultaneously. If seven or more rows are triggered at once, the custom subject and body will be removed."

As long as you don't trigger more than 6 rows at one time for the Update Request, the custom message will be there. Is there a possibility you'll be sending more than 6 rows to the same person at one time?

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @Margaret Wood

I'm unable to replicate what you're seeing, my Update Requests show the custom message. Is it possible that there's a second automation on your sheet with the same email Subject, but no custom body message, and that's the workflow that's being triggered?

Can you try duplicating the workflow (see here) and deleting the previous version to see if that fixes the issue?

If this doesn't resolve the email message, I would suggest reaching out to Smartsheet Support with full screen captures of the sheet, email, and the full workflow, along with the sheet URL, workflow ID and the last time that it ran. They'll be able to troubleshoot this with you in a private channel.

Thanks!

Genevieve

Margaret Wood

Hi Genevieve,

Thank you, I tried your suggestion. It seems that, initially, there was only an issue with having the default message when multiple rows were triggering the automation. My guess is that was because we're using placeholders in the message body. Duplicating and deleting the old one seems to have fixed that, and now it sends a separate email for each row. Is this as good as we can hope for with the placeholders?

Maggie

Genevieve P.

Hi @Margaret Wood

Thank you for clarifying about the placeholders! That does change the behaviour, see the bullet points at the bottom of Help Article here: Dynamically Add Cell Data in the Subject and Body of Request Messages

"When using placeholders with Alert or Update Request actions in change-based workflows, placeholders will generate separate notifications if six or fewer rows are triggered simultaneously. If seven or more rows are triggered at once, the custom subject and body will be removed."

As long as you don't trigger more than 6 rows at one time for the Update Request, the custom message will be there. Is there a possibility you'll be sending more than 6 rows to the same person at one time?

Genevieve

Margaret Wood

Hi Genevieve,

Yes, that must be the issue! There's easily a chance that on any given day more than 7 rows will trigger the notification. We may just need to construct a generic text body if that's the case.

Thanks so much!

Maggie

Genevieve P.

Hi @Margaret Wood

No problem! I'm glad we could figure it out.

I will note that the 7 rows can be triggered in the same day, just not at the same time (within about 2 min of each other). I hope that helps!