One of the most common automation requests in Smartsheet is: “How can I make my task automatically show as Complete when I check the box?”

This workflow not only saves time but also helps maintain data consistency across your project sheets. In this article, we’ll walk step-by-step through how to configure your sheet so that checking a box updates the task’s Status column automatically.

When you check the “Done” (or “Complete”) checkbox in your Smartsheet:

• The Status column automatically changes to “Complete.”

• Optionally, you can also show a completion date or use conditional formatting to gray out the row.

You’ll need at least these columns:

Pro Tip: Keep your dropdown values in the Status column consistent across all sheets (e.g., “Not Started,” “In Progress,” “Complete”). This makes reporting and dashboards cleaner.

This is where the magic happens.

1. Go to the Automation menu → Create a Workflow

2. Choose “When rows are changed” as your trigger

3. Set the condition: When [Done] changes to checked

4. Add an action:Change cell value → Column: Status → New Value: Complete

5. (Optional) Add another action: Record a date → Column: Completed Date → “Date when action is executed”

6. Name your automation something clear like: “Mark Task Complete When Checkbox Is Checked”

Your workflow should look like this:

When “Done” changes to checked
Then change “Status” to “Complete”
And record “Completed Date”

If you want completed tasks to look complete:

1. Go to Format → Conditional Formatting

2. Create a new rule:

   • If Status is Complete

   • Apply formatting (e.g., gray text, strikethrough, or background color)

3. Save the rule

This visual cue helps your team quickly scan for what’s finished.

Now check the Done box on one of your tasks.
If configured correctly:

• The Status column should automatically update to “Complete.”

• If added, the Completed Date should populate with today’s date.

• The row will format differently (if you applied conditional formatting).

You can add a second automation that resets the status if someone unchecks the box:

When [Done] changes to unchecked
Then change [Status] to “In Progress”

This ensures your sheet stays accurate if someone accidentally marks a task as complete.

Automating task completion in Smartsheet:

• Saves time and reduces manual updates

• Keeps team dashboards and reports always current

• Standardizes project tracking across all sheets

• Enhances visibility for project managers and stakeholders

After setup, your Smartsheet workflow behaves like a lightweight project tracker:

• Check the box → Task marked complete → Status and date updated automatically.

No manual edits. No missed updates. Just clean, consistent data.

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Smartsheet For Everyone

Microsoft Planner and Power Automate are integral components within the Microsoft 365 ecosystem, enabling both structured project management and powerful workflow automation. One frequent use case among project teams is the automatic progression of tasks between buckets (work stages) after a specific period—such as moving a task from "Bucket 1" to "Bucket 2" after it has resided for 45 days. Without automation, this time-based movement is manual, error-prone, and often neglected, especially in large-scale, long-running projects or recurring operational workflows.

This how-to article provides a comprehensive, step-by-step guide to achieve this automatic movement using Power Automate. It assumes you have basic familiarity with both Microsoft Planner and Power Automate. The tutorial covers essential configurations, required expressions, the critical actions involved, and highlights key limitations and considerations to ensure the automation is resilient, accurate, and maintainable.

Where applicable, the article references relevant official documentation, expert analyses, and active community forums to reinforce actionable steps and strategic recommendations. Screenshots and visual references are suggested for clarity but, where unavailable, instructions are described in precise detail for implementation. By the end of this article, you will have the necessary knowledge to confidently automate bucket movement in Planner, understand its operational boundaries, and adjust parameters to suit comparable use cases.

To fully address this how-to scenario, the following areas will be explored in depth:

• Scheduling and Recurrence Triggers in Power Automate
• Task Age Calculation With Expressions
• Listing and Filtering Tasks in Planner
• Retrieving Bucket IDs Programmatically
• Updating Task Bucket Assignment
• Time Zone and Daylight Saving Time Handling
• Limitations of Power Automate and Planner Integration
• Error Handling, Concurrency, and Permissions
• Advanced Options with the Microsoft Graph API
• Summary Table of Workflow Steps

The Task: Automatically move any task in "Bucket 1" to "Bucket 2" after it has spent 45 days in "Bucket 1".

This scenario is most useful for standardizing the lifecycle of tasks (e.g., progressing stagnating or overdue tasks) and freeing teams from routine administrative burden. Implementing this in Power Automate requires:

1. Scheduling the Flow: Ensuring the flow runs regularly (e.g., daily or weekly) to check for eligible tasks.
2. Identifying Relevant Tasks: Listing all tasks currently in "Bucket 1" and calculating whether their age exceeds 45 days.
3. Updating Task Bucket: Moving tasks to "Bucket 2" without losing essential details—such as checklists, notes, or attachments, and preserving business context.
4. Addressing Edge Cases: Handling permission requirements, API limits, and potential failures for flawless operation.

The subsequent paragraphs will provide in-depth explanations, Power Automate specifics, relevant expressions, and critical considerations for each step.

The core premise for scheduling in Power Automate is the Recurrence trigger. This built-in trigger allows the flow to execute at intervals of your choosing—typically once per day for task transitions.

When creating your flow, select Scheduled Cloud Flow in Power Automate. Here you can specify:

• Frequency: Daily is generally appropriate for most task hygiene workflows.
• Interval: Set to 1 (i.e., every day).
• Start Time and Time Zone: For precision, specify the exact time, and always check the time zone setting to align with your operational hours.

Advanced Options:
You can further configure the recurrence trigger to run at a precise minute past the hour (e.g., 08:05 AM rather than "some time in the 8 AM hour") by using the “At these minutes” field in Advanced settings. This prevents unpredictable start times due to Power Automate's load balancing behavior, and can be important for business process timing.

Visual Reference:
Power Automate web interface:

• Go to Create > Scheduled cloud flow
• Enter a flow name, select a start date/time, and recurrence (e.g., Frequency: Day, Interval: 1).

Recommendations:

• Avoid too frequent schedules (e.g., every few minutes) unless business-justified, as this can consume API quotas and may be throttled in lower-tier licenses.
• Document the rationale for your chosen schedule frequency within the flow description.

Every Planner plan and bucket is identified uniquely by a GUID, not just their user-friendly names. Within Power Automate, Planner connector actions require Group ID (usually Microsoft's Teams group or Office 365 Group), Plan ID, and Bucket ID.

How to Retrieve Bucket IDs:

• Use the List Buckets action in the Planner connector.
• Provide the Group ID and Plan ID.
• Power Automate returns a JSON array with all buckets—each containing name, id, and other attributes.
• Use a Filter Array or Condition action to get the ID for "Bucket 1" and "Bucket 2" by matching the bucket's name property.

Example:
In an "Apply to each" loop over the buckets:

Why This Matters:
Hardcoding bucket IDs is brittle; buckets can be renamed or deleted over time. By dynamically locating bucket IDs each run, your automation is robust to changes.

Reference:
[Power Automate: Planner - List Buckets Action - Manuel T. Gomes (2021)]
[Planer : Move completed tasks between buckets with original checklist (2024/2025)]

The List Tasks action retrieves all tasks within a given plan. In current versions, this returns all tasks across all buckets for the specified plan; tasks can then be filtered to only those in "Bucket 1".

• Action: List Tasks
• Parameters: Group ID, Plan ID
• Output: Array of tasks with properties such as id, title, bucketId, createdDateTime, dueDateTime, etc.

Important Note:
You cannot use Planner’s List Tasks action to directly filter by bucket; you must manually filter after the initial retrieval.

Optimizing Performance:
While the List Tasks action returns up to 100 records at once, large plans may require reconfiguration (parallelization, pagination) to avoid missing tasks or performance lags.

Within your flow (inside an "Apply to each" loop or via a Filter Array action):

• Compare each task's bucketId to the value you've retrieved for "Bucket 1".
• Pass only tasks in "Bucket 1" to subsequent steps.

Power Automate provides flexible datetime expressions for filtering:

• The task's age is calculated from the createdDateTime property.
• To check if a task is older than 45 days, compare its createdDateTime to "today minus 45 days".

Expression Example:
In the Filter Array or Condition action:

• utcNow() returns the current UTC date/time.
• addDays(utcNow(), -45) returns the date 45 days ago.
• lessOrEquals(date1, date2) evaluates true if date1 is earlier than or equal to date2.

Key Tips:

• Ensure the comparison values are in the same format (ISO 8601 date strings; Planner returns dates as “2024-05-19T08:15:00Z”).
• Always check for null values; tasks may lack createdDateTime in rare import/migration scenarios.
• If you want age based on a custom field (e.g., "Date moved into Bucket 1"), you need to set and maintain this elsewhere, as Planner does not natively track "time since in this bucket".

Reference(s):

• How to adddays () in Power Automate
• Power Automate utcNow () Function With Examples
• Add Days to Date: Step-by-step Guide | devoworx.net
• Community Q&A: Condition to look for Planner tasks due in the next 7 days

With a filtered list of eligible tasks, the movement to "Bucket 2" is done via the Update a task (V2) action in Power Automate:

• Action: Update a task (V2) (Planner connector)
• Task Id: Dynamic content from the filtered task
• Bucket Id: ID value corresponding to "Bucket 2"

Key Points:

• The Update Task action changes the bucket in-place. The task retains its notes, checklist, attachments, progress, etc.—since you are not deleting-and-recreating the task.
• If you want to update any additional fields (priority, dates, assignments), you may do so in this step.
• Optionally use the Update task details action in combination if you need to edit checklists or descriptions specifically.

Example Power Automate block inside Apply to each loop:

1. Condition: If task is in Bucket 1 and older than 45 days
2. Action: Update a task (V2) (set new Bucket Id to Bucket 2)

Reference: [Power Automate: Planner - Update a task Action - Manuel T. Gomes (2021)]

For best practices and future troubleshooting, it is highly recommended to include a logging or notification action at the end of each successful move. Options include:

• Send an email to an admin or team (e.g., "Task X has been moved to Bucket 2 by automation").
• Write to a SharePoint list, Dataverse table, or a file to create an audit trail for compliance or review.
• Post a message to Teams channel using the Teams connector for visibility.

Notifying key stakeholders about automated movements provides users with transparency and helps build trust in automated workflows.

Power Automate cloud flows have a [maximum run duration of 30 days]. Since this flow is scheduled daily and performs finite actions, it is highly unlikely to approach this limit. However, if you implement waiting or delay actions, be mindful that waiting actions exceeding 30 days will timeout and the flow run will fail.

Add Scope containers within your flow to group actions and set explicit error-handling logic. For example, when an action fails (e.g., updating a task due to permission denial), handle it by logging the error and sending a notification.

• Use Configure Run After settings to define actions on failure or timeout pathways.
• Combine with alerting through email or Teams, so issues surface promptly.

• You must have edit rights, typically member or owner permissions, to move tasks within a Planner plan.
• If using a service account ("system" user), ensure the account remains licensed, active, and has not exceeded flow ownership limits.

• By default, Power Automate can process actions in parallel. However, when updating tasks—especially if modifying the same task from multiple flows—consider enabling Concurrency Control and setting the "Degree of Parallelism" to 1 to avoid race conditions and data inconsistency.

Reference:
[Optimize Power Automate triggers – Power Automate | Microsoft Learn]

1. No Server-Side $filter Support: The Planner REST API and Power Automate’s Planner connector do not support OData ($filter) queries for fields like createdDateTime or percentComplete. All filtering must occur after retrieving all tasks for a plan.
2. Batch Update Limits: Each flow action and API call counts toward your organization's service limits. Monitor and optimize for both action count per run and API quotas.
3. Data Retention: Planner’s List Tasks and Power Automate’s run retention default to 30 days, so logging outside the platform may be needed for long-term auditing.
4. Attachment and Checklist Consistency: While the Update Task action preserves existing details, modifications to checklists or references (attachments, links) must be performed through the Update Task Details action, if needed.
5. Plan, Bucket, and Task Scope: Moving a task between buckets of the same plan is natively supported. Moving to a different plan or group has more limitations and may drop certain metadata, such as labels or assignments, depending on membership overlap.
6. New Premium Plans: As of the latest update, moving/copying tasks to/from “Premium” plans in Planner may not be supported by all API endpoints or automation tools.

• Do Not Use Delay Actions for 45-Day Waits: Power Automate's Delay actions are designed for short-term waiting (minutes, hours, rarely days), and flows longer than 30-day states risk timeout and resource waste. Instead, rely on scheduled recurrence to check age daily.
• Date Calculation Basis: This approach calculates age since "createdDateTime". If a task is moved back to "Bucket 1", the 45-day timer resets. If you need age-in-bucket logic, you must custom-track entry timestamps (e.g., update a custom field when entering the bucket). This is not built-in.
• Time Zone Handling: All datetime values in Planner are UTC by default. Use Power Automate’s Convert Time Zone action or the convertTimeZone() expression to display times in business-appropriate local timezones and properly interpret "midnight rollovers" around DST transitions.

For advanced users, the Microsoft Graph API offers further customization, error details, and metadata access over what the Planner connector exposes.

• Graph permits direct calls for task, plan, and bucket operations: e.g., GET, PATCH, POST on /planner/tasks, /planner/plans, /planner/buckets.
• Permissions for Graph API use are strict and require both sufficient application registration and user/group membership.
• As of 2025, OData filters such as $filter=createdDateTime le 2024-01-01 on /planner/tasks are not supported; client-side filtering is still mandatory.
• API behavior may vary depending on plan type (Basic vs. Premium), licensing, and organizational AAD security settings.

When moving tasks between buckets in the same plan via Power Automate:

• All core task details (Title, Description, Due Dates, Checklist, Attachments, Category labels—if within plan) are retained.
• If you move the task between plans, some items (like labels, attachments, assignments) may be dropped if the destination plan/group does not have the same users or categories, or users lack permissions.

If your workflow depends on checklists, attachments, or custom fields, always test on a sample data set to confirm what is preserved and what (if anything) is lost across movements or plan changes.

1. Trigger: Recurrence: every day at 8:00 am UTC

2. Action: Get Group, Plan, and Bucket IDs

   • [List Groups → Filter group by displayName]
   • [List Plans for group → Filter plan by title]
   • [List Buckets → Filter buckets for "Bucket 1" and "Bucket 2", store IDs]

3. Action: List Tasks in the Plan

   • [List Tasks in plan]

4. Filter Array:

   • Input: value from List Tasks
   • Condition: task.bucketId == Bucket1Id and task.createdDateTime <= addDays(utcNow(), -45)

5. Apply to Each:

   • Input: Filtered array
     • [Action] Update a task (V2):
       • Task Id: current item id
       • Bucket Id: Bucket2Id

6. (Optional): Log moved tasks (e.g., compose array, append to SharePoint, send email).

• Tasks Without CreatedDateTime: Edge cases where imported or legacy tasks lack this field will need to be filtered out or skipped explicitly in the flow logic.
• Permission Errors: Always confirm that the flow’s connector account is a member (not just owner) of the group, as certain actions require membership-level permissions, not just admin roles.
• API Throttling: If you process many tasks at once, respect service limits (API calls per user per minute/hour/day). Monitor flow failures and adjust concurrency as needed.
• Flow Turned Off Due to Errors: Flows that error repeatedly for 14+ days may be auto-disabled; ensure error paths do not result in silent looping failures.

Each step above is integral to a resilient, accurate, and maintainable workflow. Take care to configure IDs dynamically, validate all expressions, and provide clear commenting within your flow for future maintainers.

1. Always dynamically retrieve bucket and plan IDs to prevent flow breakage after administrative changes.
2. Document each action in Power Automate (preferably in the "Notes" field) for future reference.
3. Test on non-production data to confirm all details (checklists, assignments, dates) remain accurate after movement.
4. Monitor the flow health regularly via Power Automate analytics to catch permission or throttling errors early.
5. Export and back-up your flows regularly, especially for critical automation, using solutions or packages within Power Automate.
6. Educate your team about automated behaviors to avoid “surprise” task movements and to increase adoption confidence.

Automating the movement of tasks between buckets in Microsoft Planner based on elapsed time (e.g., after 45 days) is both achievable and reliable using Power Automate’s scheduled flows, careful filtering, and in-place Update Task actions. This solution not only streamlines project management but also frees up teams to focus on value-driving work rather than routine administration.

By adhering to the best practices and considerations outlined—especially around date-handling, permissions, and service limitations—as well as proactively monitoring flow runs, you can ensure this automation is both robust and flexible for evolving business needs.

For more advanced requirements—such as moving tasks between plans, capturing additional audit metadata, or integrating with external systems—the Microsoft Graph API offers extended capabilities but introduces additional security, coding, and administration requirements.

Embrace automation in Microsoft Planner not as a nicety, but as a necessity for scale and consistency in modern project management. With the correct design, configuration, and oversight, Power Automate becomes your digital operations teammate—never tired, never late, always precise.

Further Reading and Tutorials:

• [Move Planner Tasks Between Buckets in Power Automate (YouTube Video)]
• [Create a Task in Microsoft Planner Using Power Automate (SPGuides)]
• [Planner - Connectors Documentation (Microsoft Learn)]
• [Delay, Recurrence, and Time Handling in Power Automate (EnjoySharePoint, Power Platform Community)]
• [Microsoft Planner and Power Automate Community Solutions (Forums)]

For ongoing updates, frequent enhancements, and troubleshooting, always consult Microsoft's official documentation and actively engage with the Power Automate and Planner user communities.

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Learning Microsoft Power Automate: Improving Productivity for Business Processes and Workflows

In today’s volatile landscape, organizations aren't just adopting new technologies, they're reshaping cultures, redefining workflows, and reimagining leadership. One of the most disruptive forces in this shift is Artificial Intelligence. But deploying AI isn't merely a technical upgrade, it’s a human endeavor. Enter change management.

AI may offer unprecedented automation and insight, but without effective change management:

• Stakeholders resist new tools.
• Teams fall prey to “pilot purgatory.”
• Value gets lost in translation from strategy to execution.

Change management ensures adoption, mitigates resistance, and anchors transformation in human behavior. It translates complex digital shifts into tangible action.

Artificial Intelligence isn’t just a challenge, it’s an enabler of change management itself. Here's how:

When AI is woven into change frameworks, like Kotter’s 8 steps or the ADKAR model, it allows practitioners to forecast adoption risks, tailor messaging, and track progress in real time.

For organizations using Agile methodologies, AI enables:

• Real-time velocity tracking and sprint effectiveness analysis.
• Automated backlog grooming insights.
• Enhanced retrospectives via sentiment analytics.

The result? Change initiatives become iterative and insight-driven—mirroring the Agile ethos of continuous improvement.

• AI is not a silver bullet—it’s a catalyst that amplifies strong change management.
• Effective integration requires synergy between digital tools and human leadership.
• Organizations that pair AI with adaptive change frameworks will not just implement innovation—they’ll institutionalize it.

AI Essentials for Project Managers

Consolidating Multiple Smartsheet Trackers and Managing Action Items

Managing multiple project trackers in Smartsheet can be streamlined by organizing them in a single workspace and using consistent structures for related sub-sheets (like action item logs). This guide covers how to do four different things, 1) consolidate sheets into one workspace, 2) how to organize main trackers and sub-sheets, 3) setting up automatic reminders for action items, and 4) ways to sync or extract action items to Google products (Docs and Sheets). Each section provides clear steps and best practices for implementation.

1. Consolidating Multiple Sheets into One Workspace

A Smartsheet Workspace is a container that can hold multiple sheets, reports, and dashboards, making it easier to organize and share your project trackers. Consolidating your sheets into a single workspace offers a central place for your team to access all trackers. Here’s how to do it:

1. Create a New Workspace: In Smartsheet, click the Solution Center (plus icon) and select Create Workspace. Give the workspace a descriptive name (e.g., “Project Portfolio Workspace”). This will serve as the central folder for all your trackers.  Watch this VIDEO
2. Move Existing Sheets into the Workspace: For each of your tracker sheets, right-click the sheet name (in the Home or Sheets directory) and choose Move to Workspace, then select the new workspace. This groups all trackers under one umbrella for easy access.  Watch this VIDEO
3. Organize with Folders (Optional): Inside the workspace, you can create folders to further organize content. For example, create a folder per project or category, and place the main tracker and its sub-sheets (like action items) in that folder. Use clear naming conventions for folders and sheets so that related items are easily identifiable.
4. Manage Sharing and Permissions: Share the workspace with your team (or specific folders/sheets as needed) to grant them access to all trackers at once. This is more efficient than sharing individual sheets one by one. If a user is shared to the workspace, they inherit access to all contained sheets.  Watch this VIDEO
5. Use a Portfolio Report or Dashboard: To get a consolidated view of all projects’ status, consider creating a Smartsheet Report that pulls key info from all tracker sheets. You can configure a report to include rows from multiple sheets (e.g. all tasks across projects or high-level milestones). For example, a Smartsheet report can aggregate data from multiple sheets into one view. This is similar to Excel’s multiple tabs with a summary, and it allows you to see all tracker data in one place without merging the sheets into one. You can then add this report to a dashboard for at-a-glance status across projects.
6. Buiding a Report VIDEO
7. Building a Dashboard VIDEO

(Note: Smartsheet’s “WorkApps” is another native feature that can create a custom app-like interface to combine multiple sheets and reports in one view. This is a premium option that might be useful for a large portfolio.)

2. Organizing Trackers and Related Sub-Sheets (Action Items)

For each main tracker (e.g., a project plan or task tracker), it’s helpful to maintain separate sub-sheets for detailed logs such as Action Items, Risks, or Issues. Here are best practices for organizing these related sheets:

• Use Separate Action Item Sheets per Tracker: If the action items or to-do lists are too detailed to live on the main project sheet, create a dedicated Action Items sheet for each project. This keeps the main tracker focused on high-level tasks while the action log captures granular follow-up items. As one Smartsheet expert suggests, “You could have a separate Action List sheet for each project”. Name each action item sheet clearly (e.g., Project A – Action Items) so it’s associated with its project.  Watch this VIDEO on how to combine multiple sheets
• Alternatively, Use a Master Action Items Sheet: If you prefer a single list of all action items, create one master action item sheet and include a column (dropdown or text) for Project Name or ID. Team members would select which project each action item belongs to. This way, all actions reside in one sheet and can be filtered by project. An expert notes that you can also maintain “a master Action List where you select which project it is”. This approach simplifies reporting on all action items across projects, but it requires discipline in tagging each item with the project.
• Link or Reference Between Main Tracker and Action Log: Maintain clear traceability between a project tracker and its action items:
• In the main tracker sheet, you might include a column or link that points to the action items sheet (e.g., a cell with a hyperlink to “Open Action Items Sheet”). This provides quick navigation for users reviewing the project plan.
• In the action item sheet, include a reference back to the main project or specific task (for example, a column for “Related Task ID/Name”). This context ensures everyone knows how the action item ties into the bigger project.
• Cross-sheet formulas or cell linking can be used to roll up information. For instance, you could use a COUNTIFS formula to count how many open action items exist for a given task or project and display that on the main sheet. Smartsheet allows cell links across sheets, so you could link a status or count from the action log into the main tracker. In practice, setting up such connections often involves “a combination of cell linking and cross-sheet formulas”.
• Consistent Column Structure: Keep your action item sheets consistent in design. Common columns include Action Item Description, Owner/Assignee (contact column), Due Date, Status (e.g., Not Started, In Progress, Completed), and any priority or category fields needed. Consistency makes it easier to manage automation and to create a report that covers all action item sheets.
• Use Reports for Aggregate Views: If you maintain separate action item sheets per project, you can build a Report that pulls all action items assigned to a particular person or due in the next week across all projects. This is useful for managers or team members who want a single to-do list. Because Smartsheet reports can aggregate rows from multiple sheets with the same columns, you can see all action items in one place without merging sheets.
• Templates and Reusability: If you frequently create new projects, consider making a template set: a main project sheet template and an action items sheet template. That way, each new project’s sheets are created consistently. Placing all these in one workspace (as above) keeps them organized.

3. Setting Up Automatic Reminders for Action Items

One of Smartsheet’s strengths is its Automation engine, which can send alerts and reminders based on criteria such as dates. To ensure action items don’t slip through the cracks, set up automatic reminders for upcoming and overdue tasks. Follow these steps:

1. Open the Action Items Sheet: Go to the specific Action Items sheet (or master action log) where you want reminders.
2. Create a New Automation Workflow: Click on the Automation menu and select Create a Workflow (or Manage Workflows to create a new one). Smartsheet offers a template gallery for common automations; you might see a template like “Remind Assignees about tasks due soon” which you can use. Otherwise, start from scratch.
3. Configure the Trigger (Date-Based): Set the workflow’s trigger to “When a date is reached.” In the trigger settings, choose the Date column (e.g., the Due Date column on your action items). Then choose when to trigger. For example, you can select “Run once, 2 days before” the due date (or 1 week before, etc.). Smartsheet allows you to pick a number of days before or after the date. (You may need to scroll in the date dropdown to find options like “1 week before”.) By setting “2 days before Due Date”, the workflow will trigger on each row two days prior to its due date.
4. Set Conditions (Optional): You can refine which rows send reminders. For example, add a condition: Status is not Complete (so that only incomplete items trigger alerts). You might also add “Assigned To is not blank” to ensure only tasks with an owner send alerts.
5. Define the Action (Alert or Reminder): Choose an action such as “Alert someone”. In the alert settings:
• Under “Recipients”, select “Send to contacts in a cell” and choose the Assignee/Owner column. This ensures the notification goes directly to the person responsible.
• Customize the message if desired. For instance: “Reminder: Action item "{{Action Item}}" is due on {{Due Date}}. Please update the status or complete this item.”
• You can also CC additional people or set it to send to a fixed email or contact list (e.g. the project manager) if needed.
6. Save the Workflow: Name it clearly (e.g., “Due Date Reminder – 2 Days Before”) and turn it on. Smartsheet will now automatically email or notify the assignee two days before their task is due, including a link to the row.
7. Setup Additional Reminders (Best Practice): Often, one reminder isn’t enough. Consider adding:
• A day-of-due-date reminder: Create another automation: Trigger “When a date is reached -> run once on the due date (0 days before)” with similar conditions, to ping the owner on the due date if still not complete.
• An overdue alert: Trigger “When a date is reached -> 1 day after” (or use a condition like due date in the past) to notify assignee or escalate to a manager that the item is overdue.
• Weekly digests or recurring reminders: Smartsheet can also do recurring date triggers. For example, you can set a workflow trigger to “Run every Monday at 9:00 AM” and then as conditions include all rows where Status is not Complete and Due Date is in the past week or coming week. This would send a weekly summary or batch of reminders. (This approach requires a bit more setup with conditions or helper fields, but can be useful for summary notifications. In a community example, a user scheduled a workflow for every Thursday and used conditions to catch items due in a week.)
8. Test the Automation: It’s wise to test with a sample row. Set a due date a day or two from now and ensure the assigned person (maybe yourself in a test) receives the email at the expected time. Adjust timing or messaging as needed.
9. Watch this VIDEO

Tips:

• Reminders from Smartsheet will appear as emails (or push notifications in the app) listing the row details. Encourage users to update the sheet when they get a reminder (you can even use the “Request an Update” action instead of a simple alert – this way the email contains an Update Form for that row).
• Smartsheet automations are row-based, meaning each row’s date will trigger its own alert when criteria are met. Only the assignee of that row (and whoever else you designate) will get the email, not everyone in the sheet.
• Be careful not to spam users with too many emails. It’s best to plan a couple of key reminders (e.g., one a few days before due, one on due date) rather than daily pings, unless truly needed for critical items.

4. Extracting or Syncing Action Items from Smartsheet to Google Products

Sometimes you may want to generate a document (or a portion of a document) that lists action items – for example, a weekly status report in Google Docs that includes all open action items. Smartsheet doesn’t natively sync to Google Docs in real-time, but there are both native tools and third-party integrations that can help you export or sync data from Smartsheet to a Google Doc.

Option 1: Smartsheet for Google Docs (Add-on)

Smartsheet provides a Google Docs add-on called “Smartsheet for Google Docs” which allows a form of mail-merge from Smartsheet to a Docs template. With this add-on, you can take your Smartsheet data and automatically insert it into a Google Doc format. According to Smartsheet’s description, “Smartsheet for Google Docs is a Google Docs add-on that allows you to create invoices, form letters, envelopes, or other documents from your Smartsheet data”. In practice, you would:

• Install the Smartsheet for Google Docs add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace (it’s free and built by Smartsheet).
• In Google Docs, design a template document with placeholders for your Smartsheet fields (for example, a table or bullet list structure for action items, using placeholder tags like <>).
• Use the add-on to connect to your Smartsheet and select the sheet (or report) containing action items. You can then generate a Google Doc that replaces the placeholders with actual Smartsheet data, essentially creating a snapshot of the action items.
• This is useful for creating a one-time or periodic document (e.g., a meeting minutes doc that includes the latest action items). It’s not an auto-sync; you would run the merge whenever you need an updated doc. However, it automates the tedious copy/paste process by pulling live data at the time of generation. It’s like a mail merge, allowing you to “create multiple Google documents in a snap” from Smartsheet data.

Use case: For instance, before a team meeting, you could run the add-on to generate a Google Doc agenda that contains a section listing all open action items from Smartsheet. This Google Doc can then be shared or further edited for the meeting.

Get Smartsheet for Google Docs add-on from HERE

Option 2: Automated Integration with Zapier or Make

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For a more continuous or automated sync between Smartsheet and Google Docs, third-party integration platforms like Zapier or Make (Integromat) are very effective. These services can watch for changes in Smartsheet and update a Google Doc accordingly, with no manual intervention after setup. Here are a couple of approaches using these tools:

• Append to a Google Doc for each new action item: Using Zapier, you can set up a “Zap” with Smartsheet as the trigger and Google Docs as the action. For example, trigger “New Row in Smartsheet” (or “New or Updated Row”) on your Action Items sheet. For each new action item, have the Zap append text to a specific Google Doc. Zapier’s Google Docs integration provides an action called “Append Text to Document” which will add text to an existing doc. You could format the appended text to include key fields (e.g., “Project X – Task Y – Owner: John – Due: 5/30/2025”). Over time, the Google Doc will build a running list of all action items added. This effectively creates a log in Docs that mirrors your Smartsheet.
• Create a new Google Doc from a template for each row or update: Alternatively, use Zapier to generate separate documents. Zapier has a action “Create Document from Template” in Google Docs. For instance, “whenever a new row is added in Smartsheet, a document is instantly created from a template in Google Docs”. You prepare a Google Doc template with placeholders (like {{ActionItem}}, {{DueDate}}), and Zapier will make a copy of that template for the new action item, populating those fields. This might be overkill for every single action item (it would create many documents), but it could be useful for certain workflows (like generating an individual task briefing or ticket).
• Scheduled syncs or summaries: With Make.com (or even Zapier’s scheduling), you could set up a scenario that runs every day or week, pulls all “open” action items from Smartsheet via its API, and then writes them into a Google Doc (either replacing the content or appending). Make tends to allow more complex logic (like clearing a doc then adding a fresh list each time).

Tip: When using these integrations, ensure you have the proper access tokens/API connections set up for Smartsheet and Google. Zapier and Make provide a no-code interface: you authenticate both accounts, then define triggers and actions. Keep in mind Zapier’s free plan checks for new data every 15 minutes (which is usually fine for action items). Make can run scenarios on schedules or triggers as well.

The result of an integration is a near-real-time reflection of Smartsheet data in Google Docs. For example, as soon as an action item is added or marked done in Smartsheet, the linked Google Doc could update to add or update that item (depending on how the Zap is configured). This is great for dynamic documentation or for stakeholders who prefer Google Docs over Smartsheet.

Option 3: Using the Smartsheet API (Custom Solution)

For those with technical resources, the Smartsheet API gives full access to read sheet data and even update Google Docs via Google’s API. A custom script (in Python, JavaScript, etc.) could extract action items and push them to a Google Doc. This approach is highly customizable:

• You might write a Google Apps Script that periodically pulls data from Smartsheet (using Smartsheet’s API and an API token) and writes to a Google Doc or Google Sheet.
• Or use a scripting environment (AWS Lambda, Google Cloud Function, or a simple script on a schedule) to generate a Google Doc report from Smartsheet data.

This method is powerful but requires coding. It may be unnecessary if Zapier or the Google Docs add-on covers your needs, but it's good to know it's possible. (For example, an API script could compile all open action items, sort them by project or owner, and format a Google Doc with tables or lists exactly as you want.)

Learn more HERE

Option 4: Export/Manual Methods (for completeness):

If an automated sync is not critical, you can always export your Smartsheet data and use it in Google Docs:

• Simply export the Action Items sheet to Excel or Google Sheets (Smartsheet has a “Export to Google Sheet” option if you have linked your Google account). Once in Google Sheets, you can copy/paste or use the Google Sheets → Google Docs linking (e.g., copy a table from Sheets to Docs with a link for updating).
• Or copy rows from Smartsheet and paste into a Google Doc table. This is manual but quick for one-off needs.
  These manual methods work for static reports or one-time documentation (like an end-of-month report that lists all action items closed this month).

Summary of Integrations: The native Smartsheet for Google Docs add-on is excellent for generating polished documents from Smartsheet data using templates (similar to mail merge). Zapier and Make provide automated, ongoing syncing – for instance, appending each new Smartsheet row to a Google Doc is a straightforward Zapier workflow. When choosing an approach, consider how often you need the sync and who the audience is. For collaborative, real-time needs, a live Smartsheet or a published Smartsheet report might even suffice. But if the audience lives in Google Workspace, the above methods will bridge Smartsheet to Google Docs effectively.

Conclusion

Bringing multiple Smartsheet trackers into one workspace is a foundational step to better manage projects – it centralizes resources and simplifies sharing. Each project tracker can be paired with sub-sheets (like action logs) for detailed tracking, either kept separate per project or consolidated in a master log, depending on your workflow. Smartsheet’s automation capabilities then ensure nothing falls through the cracks by sending timely reminders to owners about upcoming or overdue action items. Finally, while Smartsheet excels at tracking internally, you have options to push or pull that data into Google Docs for reporting or collaboration outside of Smartsheet. Using the Smartsheet for Google Docs add-on or integration tools like Zapier/Make, you can automate the extraction of action items into documents, saving time and reducing manual effort.

By following these structured steps and best practices, you’ll set up a robust system where project information is organized, actionable, and easily shareable, leveraging the strengths of Smartsheet’s native features alongside the flexibility of external integrations. Good luck with your setup, and enjoy a more streamlined project tracking experience!

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7 Powerful Features of Perplexity That Set It Apart

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In the ever-evolving landscape of artificial intelligence tools, Perplexity stands out as a versatile and powerful platform that can enhance productivity, streamline research, and foster innovation. Here, we outline seven compelling features of Perplexity that make it a must-have tool for anyone looking to harness the power of AI effectively.

NOTE: Some of these features require the Pro version but many are available from the free version.

1. Multi-Model Access 

One of the standout features of Perplexity is its ability to provide access to multiple AI models. Unlike other platforms that restrict users to a single model, Perplexity allows you to choose from a variety of top AI large language models (LLMs), including its own Sonar fast model, Claude, ChatGPT 4.1, Gemini 2.5 Pro, and Grok 3.0. This flexibility means you can select the best model for your specific needs, whether it’s for writing, coding, or research.

2. Automatic Model Selection

Perplexity takes the guesswork out of choosing the right model for each task. With its "best model" feature, the platform automatically selects the most suitable AI model based on your query. This means you can focus on your work without worrying about which tool to use, saving both time and money by consolidating multiple subscriptions into one.

3. Comprehensive Source Selection

The platform's sources button allows users to customize where their information is sourced from. You can toggle between web searches, academic papers, social discussions, and SEC filings. This feature enables you to conduct targeted research, ensuring that you gather the most relevant and credible information for your projects.

4. Deep Research Functionality 

Perplexity excels in deep research capabilities, allowing users to ask complex questions and receive detailed answers. You can specify the sources you want to include in your research, making it easy to gather insights from specific areas, such as social media or academic literature. This feature is particularly useful for entrepreneurs and researchers looking to validate ideas or identify market gaps.

5. AI-Powered Project Development 

The platform includes a unique "labs" feature that enables users to collaborate with AI agents to develop business plans, brand identities, and even minimum viable product (MVP) features. By inputting your ideas, Perplexity can generate comprehensive project outlines, market opportunities, and competitive analyses, streamlining the process of bringing your concepts to life.

6. Image Generation Capabilities 

Perplexity integrates image generation directly into its platform, allowing users to create visuals alongside their text-based queries. This feature is particularly beneficial for content creators and marketers who need to produce graphics quickly and efficiently. The ability to generate images in conjunction with text makes Perplexity a comprehensive tool for various creative projects.

7. Custom Spaces and Automation 

The "spaces" feature allows users to create custom projects tailored to their specific needs. You can add instructions, files, and links to provide context for your AI interactions. Furthermore, Perplexity offers automation capabilities, enabling users to set up tasks that deliver relevant content at scheduled times. This feature is ideal for keeping track of trends and ensuring that you receive timely updates on topics of interest.

Conclusion 

Perplexity is more than just an AI tool; it’s a comprehensive platform designed to enhance productivity and streamline research. With its multi-model access, automatic model selection, and deep research capabilities, it empowers users to tackle complex projects with ease. Whether you’re an entrepreneur, researcher, or content creator, the powerful features of Perplexity can help you achieve your goals more efficiently. Embrace the future of AI with Perplexity and unlock your full potential today!

You may find this helpful: AI Essentials for Project Managers