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Automation Trigger type At a Scheduled Time

  • August 12, 2022
  • 7 replies
  • 47 views
J

I have an automation I want to run every 6 months (that is on Jan 1 and then on July 1 each year) and I set it as every 6 months on the 1st at 12:00am starting 1/1/2023 and then it doesn’t begin to trigger until 6/1/23 12:00am. (see the image here)

I can’t for the life of me figure out why the timing is off. I also have an automation that runs annually and it’s doing something similar seen here.

My daily/monthly automations didn’t do this at all so it has to be something I’m misinterpreting or isn’t documented where I’ve looked.

7 replies

ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
  • Genius
  • August 12, 2022

Your first one is because you put in the wrong start date. You need to put a start date of the 1st.

Your second one is actually okay, but it’s just the weirdness of how Airtable visually displays daylight savings time changes onscreen for future dates. It is showing you you the time as if it was still TODAY (so it’s showing you 11:00pm the night before), but since the clocks will be adjusted in the future, it will be midnight THEN when it actually happens. It’s hard to explain, but Airtable is compensating for the future by translating it to today. It makes no sense, but it’s fine.

J
  • jnjustice
  • Author
  • New Participant
  • August 12, 2022

Your first one is because you put in the wrong start date. You need to put a start date of the 1st.

Your second one is actually okay, but it’s just the weirdness of how Airtable visually displays daylight savings time changes onscreen for future dates. It is showing you you the time as if it was still TODAY (so it’s showing you 11:00pm the night before), but since the clocks will be adjusted in the future, it will be midnight THEN when it actually happens. It’s hard to explain, but Airtable is compensating for the future by translating it to today. It makes no sense, but it’s fine.


hi @ScottWorld I updated it but it still doesn’t match the other one. The updated 6 month schedule is here https://i.imgur.com/hzf8yKD.jpeg both dates for the start and next trigger are not the same but I want it to trigger on the start date. The annual one is set to start 1/1/23 but doesn’t trigger until the end of the year https://i.imgur.com/rbd7HRx.jpeg but what I am wanting is both to trigger initially on 1/1/2023 and then 6 and 12 months later (7/1/2023 and 1/1/2024 respectively)

ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
  • Genius
  • August 12, 2022

hi @ScottWorld I updated it but it still doesn’t match the other one. The updated 6 month schedule is here https://i.imgur.com/hzf8yKD.jpeg both dates for the start and next trigger are not the same but I want it to trigger on the start date. The annual one is set to start 1/1/23 but doesn’t trigger until the end of the year https://i.imgur.com/rbd7HRx.jpeg but what I am wanting is both to trigger initially on 1/1/2023 and then 6 and 12 months later (7/1/2023 and 1/1/2024 respectively)


it’s probably fine, but I would email support@airtable.com to ask them about making this clearer. It has something to do with Airtable trying to adjust for daylight savings time.

J
  • jnjustice
  • Author
  • New Participant
  • August 12, 2022

The second one makes sense but I don’t see why this one wouldn’t start in Jan but is starting in July https://i.imgur.com/hzf8yKD.jpeg

ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
  • Genius
  • August 12, 2022

The second one makes sense but I don’t see why this one wouldn’t start in Jan but is starting in July https://i.imgur.com/hzf8yKD.jpeg


You told it to trigger every 6 months. July is 6 months after January.

J
  • jnjustice
  • Author
  • New Participant
  • August 12, 2022

You told it to trigger every 6 months. July is 6 months after January.


that makes sense but when I move the start time to 7am instead of 12am and leave the start date as Jan 1 2023 it updates the next trigger to Jan 1 2023 https://i.imgur.com/qqNBUJq.jpeg

ScottWorld
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  • ScottWorld
  • Genius
  • August 12, 2022

that makes sense but when I move the start time to 7am instead of 12am and leave the start date as Jan 1 2023 it updates the next trigger to Jan 1 2023 https://i.imgur.com/qqNBUJq.jpeg


That’s bizarre! I would definitely open a ticket with support@airtable.com, and report back here with what they say. I would probably create a Loom video for them, so you can show them all the different things that are going on.

p.s. I do many of my scheduled automations with Make.com, which has absolutely precise scheduling, and doesn’t have any of the weird issues that you’ve pointed out.

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