Automatically creating event recurrences

Tal Margalith

Hi All -

I am creating an event calendar (to be coupled with the Calendar App) and I would like to enable folks to submit a recurring event, noting the frequency as once a week, every 3rd Thursday, etc. I capture the initial start date, but cannot figure out how to automatically generate the additional rows with incremented dates so that they can be displayed on the Calendar.

I've seen a similar question on recurring tasks, but the solution there seems to generate a new task only when the previous one has completed... I'd like all recurrences to be generated at one time (and I'll set an end date or maximum recurrences so I don't blow up the sheet...)

Appreciate any insight!

BullandKhmer

Yup, I've built something like this in the past.

I set up a seperate recurring events sheet.

1. Included all the columns required for the destination sheet.
2. Included a frequency column - dropdown daily, weekly, monthly
3. Included a Day column (the day that the event occurs) - drop down incl. Mon-Sun, 1-28
4. Included a record the date column.
5. Included an automation to record todays date in the record the date coulmn at midnight every day.
6. Hinged the event start date off the record date column and a nestled IF formula, based on the freq. and day columns to calculate the next occurance of the event.
7. Set up an automation - copy row - to the destination sheet triggered daily when start date = today.
8. Populated the source sheet with my recurring events.

Hope that helps, sing out if you get stuck.

Tal Margalith

Hi @BullandKhmer,

I appreciate you taking the time to tackle my question - thanks!

If I'm following the logic correctly, (7) results in a copy of an event recurrence to the destination sheet, but only on the day of the next recurrence (start date = today). In that case, would a calendar built off of the destination sheet only show today's events, but not occurrences set to happen in the future?

Please let me know if I've mis-interpreted the flow or the outcome.

BullandKhmer

Yeah mate, you're right, I kinda read back the OP after posting and realized that I had misinterpreted what you were asking for... Thought about reposting, but it was late. Then I went to bed thinking about it but only came up with some half-baked solutions. Let me think about it some more, maybe I'll come up with something that works (maybe not)

Cheers,

AJ.