I have created a two step automation where the condition is based on a date. If any of the dates in a certain field is before today, which they all are, the automation is supposed to update that record and create a new one. The test works fine but nothing happens when I turn the automation on. Why? :slightly_smiling_face:
With the “when record meets conditions” trigger, the action will not fire for records that meet the condition before the automation was turned on. You must turn on the automation first, before the record meets the conditions. Then the record must switch to meet the conditions while the automation is turned on.
In order to run the automation on existing records, you must find some way get the records to change state while the automation is turned on. The most common way to get an automation to run for old existing records is to actually use a different trigger, such as a temporary manual checkbox,. Then after you have processed the backlog of records, switch the automation to the proper trigger.
You might want to change the condition to be {End date} is before today AND {Status} is not ‘Inactive’
In order to create a new record with the same field values, you need to tell the automation the field value for every field. This can be tedious to setup the first time, but at least you only need to do it once.
The most common way to get an automation to run for old existing records is to actually use a different trigger, such as a temporary manual checkbox,. Then after you have processed the backlog of records, switch the automation to the proper trigger.
Should I replace my current trigger with the temporary checkbox? What do you mean with ‘processed the backlog of records’? I’m not sure I understand…
@kuovonne Hey, I actually worked now! I set the {Start date} to 2029-01-01 for a record, activated the automatisation and changed it back to 2019-01-01. The current record was set to inactive, a new record was created and then set to inactive as {End date} still was before today. A new record was created which had an {End date} AFTER today. Then the automatisation stopped, just like I intended it to.
So how do I do this for all records? :grinning_face_with_big_eyes:
As I said in my earlier post. To process a backlog of existing records, you need to have a different trigger that you can manually activate after the automation is turned on. For example,
Create a temporary check box field.
Change the trigger so that the automation is triggered when the checkbox is selected.
Turn on the automation.
Select the checkbox for all the records. The automation will run for all the records with checkboxes. You may need select the checkbox for some newly created records.
Change the trigger back to the actual desired trigger.
