Assign people with an automation workflow

Follow these steps to assign people in an automated workflow:

1. Go to Automation > Create from template...
2. In the Sheet change section, select Assign someone when specified criteria are met > Use Template.
3. Enter a name for your workflow. 
4. Configure what triggers the workflow. 
5. Select the contact column where you want to add the existing or new contact (defined as email address). You can use either a single-select or multiple-select contact column.
6. Select Save.

Users with Editor-level permissions can only create, edit, or delete alerts or reminders with themselves as the recipient.

To know when assigning people:

• If a cell in a multi-contact column already has non-contact text (for example, not applicable or any other text that isn't a contact/email address) and overwriting is deactivated, the assign people action doesn't add a contact into the cell.
• Only 20 contacts per cell can be added. If a workflow constantly appends contacts to an existing cell, that cell may reach the limit and invalidate the workflow at that time.
• Contacts can only be added to contact columns. 
• With the assign people action, you can only add email addresses or existing contacts that contain email addresses. The action doesn't currently support adding groups, Created By, or Modified By contacts.
• Assigning people is a terminal action. You aren't able to add conditions or actions after assigning people.
• Update cell actions need time to update the sheet, especially if there are multiple workflows. 
• Assigning people is a terminal action, meaning no additional actions can be added to the workflow after it.

To avoid creating endless loops, Smartsheet doesn't initiate the Assign people action when the trigger cell includes cross-sheet formulas or are linked to other cells. To work around this, use time-based automations or recurrence workflows.