How to auto send an Excel spreadsheet only when sheet changes are made?

Michelle Barberi

We have set up automated workflows for a Smartsheet and its associated sign-up form that we've created.

Current state: We have a team who receives an hourly notification from the sign-up form if there are any changes to the form. The email contains a link.

What we want: The team prefers to receive an exported Excel spreadsheet in that notification rather than a link

Question: Since the ACTION block in the workflow does NOT have a feature to send an Excel spreadsheet, how else can we send a spreadsheet on an hourly basis WHEN there are changes? 

The only solution I can think of is to schedule “Send as attachment” 7 times daily (pick 1 hour each day, Monday to Friday and do that 7 times). That a terrible solution as it loads up people’s inboxes AND they are wasting time checking the attached Excel files hourly. 

We are open to workaround ideas and using apps, integrations and add-ons.

Meg Y

@Michelle Barberi

Is the team updating anything in Smartsheet when they recieve the notification?

Do you know if the form sheet changes often?

Michelle Barberi

Thanks Meg! No, the team doesn't not update anything in the Smartsheet when they receive the notification.

Here is what happens.

Customers complete the form to opt-in for software (there are multiple options and combinations of those options to choose from). The provisioning team gets an hourly notification IF an entry is received. When the assigned team member get the email notification, she/he/it has to click the link and manually export the Smartsheet into Excel.

Hourly reports are necessary so that our team can begin the provisioning process as soon as possible. We want to keep the wait time short for customers to get their software.

We expect high volume of changes for the next 3 months.

I hope that helps. 😀