Skip to main content

Get Support
Have a question? Let's get you an answer!

How Do I...? Troubleshooting Code & Webhooks Developer Zone

Other Help Resources
Wait, there's more! Check out these Community sourced spaces for additional resources.

Zapier Help Center Hire an Expert

Learning Resources
All of our best learning resources can be found here.

Featured Articles Show & Tell Zapier's products AI Hub Zapier Tools Hub

Share your knowledge
Give back to the Community by sharing your automation wins and helping to answer questions.

Share your success See unanswered questions User Groups

Other Learning Resources
Some of our favorite additional ways to upskill your Zapier knowledge.

Zapier Learn Zapier Blog Zapier Webinars

Product Updates
Check out what is new and upcoming with Zapier with our regular product updates.

Product Updates

Early Access Program
Want to join Early Access? Learn more here.

Question

Smartsheet: "Find Sheet Row" step works inconsistently

  • May 27, 2025
  • 4 replies
  • 67 views
M

I have a Zap set up that includes a "Find sheet row" SmartSheet step. It is triggered by an incoming email to my gmail account and then queries my SmartSheet for the sender's email address. If the address is found, it stops. If the address is not found, it creates a new row in the SmartSheet that includes the new email address.

The "find sheet row" call is working very inconsistently producing many duplicate rows. Is this a known issue? Is there anything that I can do to improve the performance?

This post has been closed for comments. Please create a new post if you need help or have a question about this topic.

4 replies

jayeshkumarbhatia
Forum|alt.badge.img+7
  • jayeshkumarbhatiaZapier Solution Partner
  • Zapier Solution Partner
  • 735 replies
  • May 27, 2025

Hey ​@max131387 ,

 

I had did a project with Smartsheet and this is a problem with their API. 

  • If possible migrate to some other database like Airtable or Google Sheet
  • If not, create a duplicate database for lookup purpose. I tried every other solution and creating a duplicate database was the only solution and this is working properly. 
SamB
Community Manager
Forum|alt.badge.img+11
  • SamBCommunity Manager
  • Community Manager
  • 9736 replies
  • June 4, 2025

Hi ​@max131387, just checking in—how are things going on this?

I spotted you also reached out to our Support team and it seems it can take up to 24 hours for SmartSheet to index the data inside sheets. The initial workaround the Support team suggested wasn’t a good fit for your use case as it involved setting a delay of 24 hours but looks like they had an alternative idea for a workaround. I’ll share that workaround here in case it’s helpful for anyone coming across similar issues:

Looking through or records of this action and our conversations with our Partners at Smartsheet, there is a limitation on how sheets are indexed inside their our search engine using elastic search, which can result in unexpected outcomes.
 
Another alternative would be to store the emails in Zapier Tables (which is free to use). What you can do here is copy the Email column from your Smartsheet and paste it into a Zapier Table. Then, in your Zap, you can replace the "Find sheet Row" action in Smartsheet for a "Find Record" action in Zapier Tables, activating the "Create Record if one is not found" option.
 
https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/9804340895245-Create-tables-and-store-data-with-Zapier-Tables
 
That way, you can add a row to your Smartsheet depending on the results of the search in the Zapier Table, using the "Zap Data Was Found" field. If found, don't add anything. If not found, the email will be added to the Zapier Table and the Smartsheet.

 

Did you have any success with either of the workarounds suggested by jayeshkumarbhatia or the Support team? 

Want to make sure you’re all set so please keep us posted on your progress 🙂

M
  • max131387Beginner
  • Author
  • Beginner
  • 6 replies
  • June 4, 2025

Thanks for checking in, ​@SamB. As ​@jayeshkumarbhatia pointed out, this is a frustrating limitation of SmartSheet.

SmartSheet's support representatives confirmed that there may be up to a 24-hour delay until newly updated Smartsheet data appears in search results via the API.

The suggestion of using an intermediary table (e.g. Zapier Tables) certainly seems like it could work, but it might be a bit unwieldy as the SmartSheet data is not only updated through this Zap, but may be manually updated by SmartSheet users (and I need the Zap's search results to reflect the current state of the data).

For the time being we've instituted the 24-hour delay workaround, with an internal understanding that the SmartSheet may effectively be a day behind. This is obviously not ideal, and I’ll be considering a migration at the end of our fiscal year. 

JammerS
Forum|alt.badge.img+6
  • JammerSZapier Staff
  • Zapier Staff
  • 3527 replies
  • June 5, 2025

Hi ​@max131387,

 

Smartsheet's API search delays can be challenging, especially when timely data updates are essential. To mitigate this, consider using Zapier Tables as an intermediary to sync recent data, though it requires managing both manual and automated updates. Exploring alternative data sources, such as Smartsheet's webhooks for real-time triggers, might also help. Implementing regular updates and alerts can keep stakeholders informed despite delays. Providing feedback to Smartsheet may encourage improvements, and evaluating other platforms for better synchronization could be a viable long-term solution.

I understand these solutions may not fully resolve the issue, but I hope they offer some viable options while you navigate this challenge. Feel free to reach out if you have any further questions or need additional assistance.

Terms & ConditionsAccessibility statement