Google Sheets to Slack, absolute reference to a cell as data in message

Question

I’m using the “New or Updated Spreadsheet Row in Google Sheets” trigger to send a message to a Slack channel.

In the message to Slack, I want to reference an absolute cell ($D$2). D2 is acting as a counter, increasing or decreasing depending on the column (C) that triggers this Zap.

I tried to paste {{93493321__COL$D$2}} into the Slack message but it didn’t work.

Is it possible to reference an absolute cell in the message to Slack when this Zap is triggered?

Slack Message with attempts to reference an absolute cell

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Best answer by kenyon 17 July 2020, 01:44

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kenyon · Accepted Answer

Hey Collin,

Because this trigger from Google Sheets works on the row level, your trick isn't going to work. We'll receive the row that triggers the Zap, but we won't receive D2 unless it's row 2 that's being updated.

We can go about this a different way, though. We have two options:

We can add the value of D2 to the end of each row so that it's included with the content of each trigger. We'd do that by using the =D2 function in a column at the end of your sheet. This new column will always mirror D2.
We can add a step to the Zap that allows us to go out and find D2 any time the zap runs, bringing an up-to-date cell value. We'd do this by using the Get Many Spreadsheet Rows action. All we need is row 2, so you can set your parameters and the output should include D2.

The first option alters your spreadsheet, so that's worth keeping in mind. The second option will use an additional Task each time the Zap runs.

Cheers,
Kenyon

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