Triggering Automation from a Formula Value within a SmartSheet

Brian McElligott

I have several columns within a Grid Sheet. I only populate the first row, as I use this Reporting Sheet data to report and create dashboards.

The values in the first row of the Grid Sheet are linked (pulled from) another sheet. Once all data is populated (populated from the source sheet and reflected / cell-linked in the Reporting Sheet), I have a formula that checks a box (checkbox column). Workflows don't seem to be triggered by this change within the sheet.

I know that Linked values can not trigger automation workflows, but can formula values from within the same sheet trigger a workflow? Suggestions?

Andrée Starå

Hi @Brian McElligott

I hope you're well and safe!

Try changing the trigger to be time/date based.

Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Brian McElligott

Hi Andree,

When I try to change the workflow to trigger "hourly", I get the following message:

Workflow timing is unavailable

Hourly, Daily, or Weekly aren't allowed for this workflow.

Do you want to save your workflow with the When Trigged setting instead?

It seems that I don't have the ability to change the workflow to run hourly.

Andrée Starå

@Brian McElligott

I meant that you should change it to recurring daily and add multiple if you want to check more often than that.

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Brian McElligott

Andree,

Thanks for the insight. I am assuming that by "Add Multiple"", you mean create multiple workflows, one for each hour that I want to run the workflow. I can do that, however it seems like an opportunity for product improvement.

Has anything changed with workflows in the past two months? I ask this because I created an elaborate two sheet workflow for an approval process (Smartsheet only offers approvals for a single person at a time, sequentially), that handles multiple approvals simultaneously, with multiple rounds (4 rounds). The trigger event was on the primary sheet, sent via cross-sheet formula to the destination sheet (with the automations), and a helper column that read the value of the cross-sheet formula for update values ("Start Process" or "Process not Started"). This architecture worked and I successfully tested the process multiple times, with passing results. It appears that this cross-sheet formula / helper column formula setup will no longer trigger automations.