Automations in Sheets

Created by Advaith R, Modified on Wed, 8 Jul at 4:28 PM by Advaith R

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In this article

Create an automation
Event on sheet
Click of a button

Sheet automations allow you to streamline your workflows by setting up triggers that perform actions automatically, saving you time and effort.

For example, you can use automations to:

Schedule a daily check of your RAID sheet for SLA breaches. If a row has a "Risk Status" of "Open" and its "Date Reported" is older than 7 days, the automation will trigger.
Send data to an external system via an HTTP request on a set schedule.

You can also create manual triggers, allowing a user to activate an automation only after confirming a specific action - giving maximum control over when it runs.

NoteAutomations are configured exclusively at the Sheet Template level.

Create an automation

Navigate to the Automations tab within your sheet template and click New automation.
Select a trigger type:
- Event on sheet: Triggers when something changes in the sheet (for example a row is updated).
- Set schedule: Triggers at a specific time or on a recurring basis. (Deprecated)
- Click of a button: Allows for manual triggering of the automation.
Configure the trigger: Define the specific conditions. You can choose between Sheet triggers and Sheet Tab triggers.
For example, if you chose "Event on sheet," you might select "When row matches a condition" and specify the target sheet tab and exact criteria (for example "where Priority is exactly High").
Define the actions: Add an action block. You can set conditions for this block to run.
Choose an action: Select the action you want to perform from the list, which includes Sheet Actions, Project Actions, and Notifications (for example "Create sheet tab" or "Send HTTP request").
Configure the action: Fill in the details. For example, an "Update sheet field" action requires selecting the field to update and the new value. For an "HTTP request," provide the URL, method, headers, and body.
Save the automation. It will now run whenever the trigger conditions are met.

Event on sheet

Automations are triggered based on the occurrence of an event, such as a status being updated, which could then automatically create a new sheet tab.

Once you choose the event, select the specific trigger type. Rocketlane offers two categories: Sheet triggers and Sheet tab triggers.

Sheet triggers

Sheet created
Status updated
Assignee updated
Due date updated
Field updated
Sheet approval response received
New message on sheet
Sheet becomes overdue
Sheet is deleted

Sheet tab triggers

Sheet tab assignee updated
Sheet tab status updated
Sheet tab becomes overdue
Row matches condition
Row updated
Row created
Row deleted
Sheet tab created
Sheet tab is deleted

After selecting a trigger, you can add conditions and actions. If you're new to these concepts, see the Automations documentation for a refresher.

Available actions

In addition to standard actions, you can perform specific actions on your sheet's fields:

Action	What it does
Change start date	Postpone, expedite, set to today, or set a relative date based on a specific number of days or relative to another date field.
Create sheet tab	Automatically generates a new sheet tab. Define its name, initial status, and due date.
Update assignee	Clear the current value or replace, append, or remove individuals from the existing assignee list using users, placeholders, or fields.
Change due date	Postpone, expedite, set to today, or set a relative date.
Shift dates	Moves both the start date and due date forward or backward by a specified number of days (for example +5 or -3 days).
Change status	Updates the overall status of the sheet (for example from To Do to In Progress or Completed).
Update sheet fields	Automatically modifies the value of any field within the sheet (for example updating a priority or category field).
Freeze sheet	Locks the entire sheet and prevents any further data editing, ensuring all entries are finalized.
Request for approval	Sends an official approval request, specifying the person or placeholder to receive it and the required number of days for a response.
Follow sheet	Automatically subscribes a specific user to the sheet, ensuring they receive notifications for any major updates or changes.
Delete sheet	Permanently removes the entire sheet from the project.
Send message on sheet	Posts a predefined message into the sheet's conversation window, which can include tagging users or using smartfills for context.

Click of a button

The Click of a button trigger is designed for workflows where you need maximum control, ensuring an automation executes only when a user manually clicks a specific button. The configuration of conditions and actions remains the same as any other automation type, but the trigger requires a conscious user action.

This is ideal for critical, high-impact processes like a UAT sign-off. The UAT Lead must first verify that all critical items are resolved before manually triggering the automation - preventing accidental or premature project advancement (for example marking the UAT phase as complete and notifying stakeholders).