Incorrect field value in email with Smartsheet automation

George Thomas Irimben

Hi,

I see an issue in automated email if we use a Date column with formulas.

In my sheet, I have a Date type column (CreatedDateTime) with formula =Created@row+"".

So, When a row is added, this cell shows the Date and time based on timezone selected in Account->Personal Settings. e.g. 06/23/21 6:27 PM

I am in GMT+5:30 timezone.

Now. I have the Automation to send email when a row is added. I have selected this CreatedDateTime column also as field value to include in email.

The issue I see is, CreatedDateTime column in the sheet shows the time based on selected Timezone.. but in the email the value for this field is based on US time zone. i.e. 6/23/21 5:57 AM

How to avoid this data mismatch ?

BTW, It works fine if I directly pick the Created System column field for the email.

Formula mentioned above for CreatedDateTime is simplified version of my actual formula. So, using System column will not work for me.

Thanks

-George

Paul Newcome

Try this...

=MID(Created@row, 1, LEN(Created@row))

George Thomas Irimben

Tried this formula. The sheet shows the correct dates per time zone but the the email generated using Automation is still having incorrect Time.

Looks like the automation is triggering recalculation of the formula in different timezone and it is causing a wrong time which is not aligning with the sheet value.

Any other thoughts?

Paul Newcome

The time zone on the backend is different from your personal settings. This seems to be a pretty common problem.

I would suggest reaching out to support to see if they have a solution they can recommend since it seems to be isolated to the backend. If it were displayed incorrectly in the sheet then we could use formulas to correct it, but unfortunately that doesn't seem to be the case this time.

George Thomas Irimben

Agree.. Seems like a bug in the Smartsheet backend.. Thanks!