Send Update Request when there has been NO change to a cell

smaguire
smaguire
edited 12/09/19 in Smartsheet Basics

I have a project with multiple tasks assigned to different people. I want to automatically send recurring update requests (say every 7 days) if the "Progress" column has not been changed in those 7 days.

It does not seem like smartsheet has the capability to do this. The trigger event for sending automatic update requests currently has to be a change in the cell value. 

In my opinion, the most common scenario where you would want to send an automatic update request is when there has been no change to a certain cell, i.e. "You have not updated the sheet, so please update!"

I can't understand why this is not a feature. Does not seem like it would be complicated to implement.

Comments

  • Hi,

     

    could you define "no update" ? Do you mean that is this cell is empty (or isn't checked) then send an alert every x days ?

     

    You can achieve that with a column and a formula, then create a reminder based on the date in this new column.

     

    For example if I have:

    • a column REFERENCE with a value if the row is valid
    • a column CHECK that has to be checked
    • a column CONTACT that contains the contact for this row

     

    I can create a column REMINDER to send a reminder every monday this way:

    '=IF(AND(NOT(ISBLANK([REFERENCE]@row)), [CHECK]@row=0), TODAY()-WEEKDAY(TODAY()-1)+1)'

     

    And then create a reminder to the CONTACT based on the date in REMINDER.

     

    Does this help ?

     

    Best regards,

     

    Paul.

  • Paul,

    Appreciate your response.

    I actually realized I could accomplish my goal by adding an automatic MODIFIED DATE column, and using a simple function that calculates the work days that have passed between this date and the current date.

  • Daniel Vitter
    Daniel Vitter ✭✭✭
    edited 10/24/18

    Could you please share how you accomplished this smaguire?

     

    I'm trying to do something similar now. 

     

    i.e. If the Status column is changed to "In proofing" but then sits around for X days without changing, I'd like to ping the proofer again to make sure they don't let it sit any longer.

     

    Hoping you have a formula that's easy to implement in my system. I could easily turn on the MODIFIED DATE column in my sheet.

    thanks for any help you can provide.

    Daniel