Automation - Trigger when date and time reached - change time to 15 min increment

Denise Harshbarger · 08/18/22

When building automations, the handiest way to test is to set the automation to trigger when a date/time are reached. However, only having the option to set for the hour (6:00, 7:00, 8:00, etc), means that after testing, and discovering a tweak needs to be made, one must wait until the next hour to test again. This results in delays to completion of projects, especially when multiple tests must be completed. It would be nice to be able to set the date/time reached with any time, or at least 15 min increments (6:00, 6:15, 6:30, etc). This would save significant time in project development.

Kathleen H. · 08/18/22

This would be a great enhancement! I've had the same issue when testing automations.

Andrée Starå · 08/19/22

Hi @Denise Harshbarger @Kathleen H.

I hope you're well and safe!

I agree to have 15 min increments would be an excellent addition to Smartsheet features.

Here's a possible workaround or workarounds in the meanwhile

What I usually do when I develop client solutions with Automation. I add a so-called helper column (checkbox), trigger the Workflow(s) with it, and then update it before going live.

Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Pam Ahles · 09/22/22

It would be super helpful for the various automated workflows that I have designed to be able to customize my workflows to include Quarterly (Currently only daily, weekly, monthly and yearly is available). In addition, you can only schedule on the hour and it would be more beneficial to be able to schedule workflows in 15 minute increments.

teelewis · 03/15/23

The current default design in Smartsheet is that automated workflows and scheduled email notifications can only be sent on the hour...Let's say you have a weekly 8am meeting, but you want to send an automatic weekly email before the meeting at 7:45...well right now there is no option to do this. You can send it at 7am or 8am. You really need to add 15 minute increments.

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John Sweatman · 12/04/23

We have new daily checklists generated at or after midnight, and then moved to an archive document - all of this is based on time events. I have found that trying to align multiple functions at the same time have resulted in new checklists going directly to our archive, so I need to spread out the automation. Currently Smartsheet only allows hourly choices, so our system is archiving at 01:00, then creating a new sheet at 02:00. If Smartsheet could add :15 or :30 minute intervals, or even more granular, I could have our daily automation complete within minutes rather than hours.

KintyreMac · 05/16/24

Hi … I very much agree with this. 10 minute intervals for data shuttle scheduling would be a huge improvement for me :-)

A.J. · 05/24/24

The restriction of not having full range of choice of the time for automation-driven email notifications is a limitation that we face frequently.

I propose a change to enable the selection of email notifications to be scheduled for any time of day, not solely the top of the hour.

AWentz · 06/19/24

Are these similar requests? I vote for all three, but I think it's really only one enhancement around email notifications and the ability for users to set their preferences in more detail than what is possible today. Based on the scenario(s), a user may not want a notification every time a new item is added, past due, etc. (whatever the trigger is) which can cause "Email Chaos". The ability to further refine notification settings is needed.