Error on managing workflows

When I attempt to 'manage workflows' on one of my sheets, I'm getting a very nonspecific "something went wrong, try again later" error.

It's happened for several days and I've rebooted/cleared browser cache multiple times in that period. I'm NOT getting that error on all sheets -- I've been able to create/edit workflows & automation on several other sheets, it's just the one that's throwing the error. And I'm the owner of the problem sheet so I can't see it being a permissions issue.

The only thing that comes to mind as a reason for the error is an issue that I've been trying to correct (but the issue's been going on for a while longer than the error's been popping so doubtful that it's the cause but /shrug) Issue = For a long time, I've had a workflow to email me daily with a list of changed rows. Recently it started emailing me about all 4000+ rows rather than just the rows that "really" changed. There's a column that record system date and one with a formula to calculate number of days before/after a due date. It's in trying to debug that issue that I discovered I can no longer get in to edit the workflows...so I'm stuck.

Anyone run into that error message? If so, how'd you fix it without having to create a whole new sheet (& rebuild all the reports/dashboards/forms referenced from it)?

Thanks!

Carla

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Accepted answers

Genevieve P.

Hi @KGarciaDF, @Will Findlay, @CarlaB, and anyone else experiencing this error message,

The issue is indeed related to an old workflow not having any name at all, as Will mentioned.

Our Support team was able to determine which users encountered this pop-up error and have reverted all of these accounts to the legacy workflow manager experience until the release with the fix goes out. This means that you all should now be able to access your workflows (and update the names if needed).

Will, you and your other sheet administrator may need to log fully out of Smartsheet then log back in again before you see the change.

For anyone experiencing this issue after February 16th, we are actively working on resolving this error with the Modern Workflow Manager and the next release will fix this access issue when workflows have blank names.

Thank you!

Genevieve

All comments

Will Findlay

I am having a very similar issue with one of my (key) sheets. I also am not getting this on other sheets. This sheet has 9 existing workflows. When I select "Manage Workflows..." I get the error below. I also get it if I try to add a new workflow:

I placed a support ticket yesterday but thought I'd check the forums as well. I also hope not to have to rebuild everything!

Genevieve P.

Hi @CarlaB & @Will Findlay

Thank you for bringing this to our attention. I checked in with our Support team and we're actively investigating why this message appears for some sheets. At this time it looks like it happens when a workflow does not have a name assigned on that specific sheet.

We are working on a fix for this in an upcoming release; in the meantime, please see if any other shared user is able to gain access to the Workflow manager and update the workflow names.

Thank you!

Genevieve

KGarciaDF

I'm having this issue as well. I already received the same answer as above, but no updates have been given. This is severely affecting our productivity. It is unacceptable that no information has been provided and it has been going on for days with not so much as back-end support. On top of it all, customer service takes on average 2 days to reply. Not good.

Aaron LaTray

Having this issue as well. I am unable to access the manage workflows window after setting up a notification automation on this sheet. I tried using a different admin account and they are also getting the same error.

KGarciaDF

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/319679#Comment_319679

This is correct on my end as well. It does not matter whose account we are using we are still unable to access the Workflow Manager. @Genevieve P. Could we at least get an ETA for the next release? I need to be able to provide some information to my team about this issue. We are going on two weeks now with no follow-ups or updates regarding this error.

Will Findlay

I got a message today from Technical Support saying the following:

"We have identified this is being caused by old Automated workflow(s) not having a name (blank rather than default "Untitled workflow"). We have made this temporarily accessible to you we do ask that you name any unnamed workflows. Once you have named the workflows on this sheet please write back in so that we can assist with any other changes that need to be done on the backend."

However, when I went in to rename the workflows I just got the same error.

Will Findlay

I also tried having another sheet administrator access Manage Workflows without success. Same error.

Genevieve P.

Hi @KGarciaDF, @Will Findlay, @CarlaB, and anyone else experiencing this error message,

The issue is indeed related to an old workflow not having any name at all, as Will mentioned.

Will, you and your other sheet administrator may need to log fully out of Smartsheet then log back in again before you see the change.

Thank you!

Genevieve

Will Findlay

Thank you! I can confirm that I am now able to modify my workflows on the sheet that had issues! I appreciate your responsiveness @Genevieve P.!

CarlaB

I was able to get in and delete the only unnamed workflows *which were disabled* -- so anyone that thinks just disabling an unnamed workflow is sufficient, it seems not to be.

Sounds like leaving the default title (e.g., 'Alert') will be fine; it's just the 'null' state that caused an error.

Thanks!

krispnw

Hi @Genevieve P. could you possibly help me out the same as you did for the users above. We are experiencing this issue, as well and it is definitely causing problems. I would really appreciate it!

Thanks!

Genevieve P.

Hi @krispnw

We're monitoring what accounts this error pops up for and disabling the Modern Workflow Manager individually for these accounts; this means that you should be able to regain access to your workflows in that sheet using the legacy workflow manager in the next day or so while we work on fixing this long-term.

Cheers,

Genevieve

JuditB

Hi @Genevieve P.! Unfortunately, I came across the same issue. Would you mind helping me out as well? It would be much appreciated, thank you!

Genevieve P.

Hi @JuditB

This thread is from February, 2022, and should be resolved. Can you clarify what you're experiencing today?

JuditB

@Genevieve P., thank you for reaching out so quickly.

I have been using Smartsheet auto workflows for years now. I have recently copied a sheet from a previous version and saved it as new to update it according to the new requirements. A couple of days ago, in this new sheet, I wanted to update my workflows, however every time I click on "manage workflows" or "create workflow", I receive the same error message.

I logged in and out of Smartsheet, tried incognito, but nothing seems to help.

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