Assign people with an automation workflow

Add an email address or contact to a contact column in a sheet with specific triggers.

Who can use this?

Plans:

  • Smartsheet
  • Business
  • Enterprise

Permissions:

  • Owner
  • Admin 

Find out if this capability is included in Smartsheet Regions or Smartsheet Gov.

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). Use either a single-select or multiple-select contact column.
  6. Select Save.

    Assign someone automation

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

Consider the following 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 you've deactivated Overwriting, the Assign people action doesn't add a contact into the cell.
  • You can only add 20 contacts per cell. If a workflow constantly appends contacts to an existing cell, that cell may reach the limit and invalidate the workflow.
  • You can only add contacts 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. Adding or editing conditions or actions isn't an option after you've assigned people.
  • Update cell actions need time to update the sheet, especially if multiple workflows exist. 

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.

Why am I receiving an error message from my workflow?

You may receive an error message in your workflow due to one of the following issues:

  • The Assign people action’s Contact column is deleted, or changes to a non-contact type column.
  • The Assign people action’s Contact column is changed from multi-contact to single-contact AND you've selected multiple contacts to be assigned.
  • The Assign people action’s Contact column plus the number of contacts to be added during execution exceeds the maximum number of contacts (20).
  • The Assign people action’s column is no longer write-capable (for example, it’s a column formula).