Questions about Find a Record action after Time-based Trigger

[raechyl]

Hi, I think I'm struggling understanding how the Find a Record action works.

I'm attempting to create a monthly reminder email that needs to include information populated from a current record. If I use the At a Scheduled Time trigger, I have to use Find a Record to pass the correct information into the automation.

Is it correct that it just passes information as a list? So if you're only returning one record (which should be the case with my conditions), then it works as I need it to (for instance, using a field for a link).

However, does this mean I cannot use it to populate a file in my email as an attachment? Am I going about this the wrong way?

[TheTimeSavingCo]

> However, does this mean I cannot use it to populate a file in my email as an attachment? Am I going about this the wrong way?

Hm, I'm not sure what you mean here.  May I know what happens when you test the automation now, and what you would like it to do instead?

[raechyl]

Sure, right now, it seems like Find a Record will only return text. So I am unable to use it to call a record with an attachment field and then attach it to an automation email. You can see in the screenshot I've attached that the only option my attachment field gives me is Flatten. Everything Find a Record returns is "List of..." so it seems I'm unable to find a record and then attach a document from that record.

Is there a better way to do time-based automations when I need to attach a file? Thanks 🙂

[TheTimeSavingCo]

Flattening the "Attachment" field for multiple found records will send them all as attachments for me

What issues do you face when you test the automation now?

[raechyl · Accepted solution]

Interesting - when I hit flatten, it just doesn't attach anything. I've checked the trigger and it should be working as far as I can tell.

BUT... I figured out a different way to do what I was trying to accomplish. I hadn't been able to use a date field as a condition (using the When Record Matches Conditions trigger) because I couldn't figure out how to generate the date based off the data that was coming in. I've since figured out how to make dates autogenerate correctly, so I can now use record-based triggers instead of at a scheduled time.

Thanks so much for trying to work through this with me!