Automation - Document Builder Attachment Issues

Mike TV

I've got an Automation set up to automatically generate an attachment from Document Builder based on 1 trigger and a condition. The trigger is when a specific cell changes to "Complete" and a condition that another cell is one of a few different things.

The first day I created it and used it the thing ran fine. The next time it needed to run a couple days later it failed to do so and I received an email stating one of my Automations had a conflict and got disabled. It's become disabled a couple times over the last couple weeks since this new feature rolled out.

When it gets disabled, I go into the Automation setup and choose Edit but I don't change a single thing. I just hit Save and it re-enables it. Then it'll run smoothly again until a few days later when it decides to become disabled again for no good reason.

Anyone else having this problem with the new attachments Automations? I'm going to report it to Support of course but I just wanted to know if anyone else has experienced this or knows what's causing it.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Mike TV

Do you have any other workflows on the sheet that could be causing the conflict? It would be helpful to see a screen capture of the email you received, as well as more information about how your sheet is set up (e.g. how is the Status column being updated, have there been any changes to the sheet such as new columns/column names).

Working with Support is what I would recommend here, so you can share full screen captures and details in a private channel.

Cheers,

Genevieve

Walter Mootz

I have had this same exact issue and was just hopping on here to ask exactly what you did. I actually just had it happen today stating that I had an invalid document path, I clicked edit and then save and it works perfect now. Next time I have the issue, I'll take a screen shot and post. It seems to happen every couple of days.

Mike TV

@Genevieve P.

I only have 3 total Automations on this sheet. One that sends a person who fills out a form an email with their order total and also alerts me that an order was placed. So it's an Alert Someone type of Action that I don't think would conflict. Then I have another Automation that changes 4 cells to include a driver name in one cell, order prepared by in another cell, and the last 2 cell changes input an address. These are used for information that needs to be on a receipt and never change. This fires off successfully every time a row is added.

When I receive my email notification that an order was placed, I go to the sheet and change the Status to Complete manually after reviewing their order to make sure there are no issues with what was ordered. After changing the status to Complete and Saving it, then the new Automation should fire off to create the receipt and attached it to the row. That's the automation that's being deactivated.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Mike TV

Thank you for all of this detail! I completely agree that this sounds like unexpected behaviour, based on your set-up. There shouldn't be anything deactivating your workflow. Since this workflow type is new, it would be really helpful if you could continue to follow-up with Support in case this is happening to other users as well.

@Walter Mootz, if you could also contact Support, with full screen captures, the sheet name, the workflow set-up, and any other relevant details, we would appreciate it!

Thanks,

Genevieve

Paul H

@Mike TV @Genevieve P.

am also seeing the same issue

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/92628/generate-document-workflow-has-become-invalid

Mike TV

SmartSheet support just simply said to make a duplicate of the workflow and delete the failing one. I've heard this before as solutions for Automation workflows that just fail to trigger for no discernable reason etc. It sounds like there's something going on with workflows which needs some serious debugging and troubleshooting if this is a standard answer. It's a band-aid type answer averting the ultimate cause of the malfunction.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Mike TV

Yes, this is a standard first-step "troubleshooting" test that's generally suggested. The result of this test can quickly confirm that this same issue is consistently happening across multiple workflows, potentially across multiple sheets, and isn't specific to that one workflow you found the issue on. If this is what the initial email from Support suggested, please keep following-up with them with screen captures or even a screen recording to show more details, identifying that it's not specific to that unique workflow.

Thank you!

Genevieve