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Unable to file Smartsheet attachments to Google Drive on my Zap.

I am trying to use the “Smartsheet Attachment to Google Drive” zap. I have it set up and it successfully sends text .txt files when I test the zap. However, when I add a file to the actual Smartsheet, nothing happens. From reading the help documentation, it appears that I am stuck at this part. I believe that I want to select “File” from that dropdown menu. But that is not an option. I have tried selecting every other option from the dropdown and it just generates a .txt file as part of the test, but nothing at all when I actually attach something to a row in the Smartsheet.

Some searching in common problems with Smartsheet on the Zapier help tells me:

“I can't select my Smartsheet attachments or discussions columns.
There isn't currently a way to match file attachments or discussions for Smartsheet Triggers or Actions.”

Basically, what I am trying to figure out is:

Does the “Smartsheet Attachment to Google Drive” actually work? Or is it not possible at all? If it does work, is there someone using it with advice?

Thank you,

Sara

20 replies

Troy Tessalone
Userlevel 7
Badge +14

Hi @ReevesUnitedWay 

Good question.

To help us have more context, please post detailed screenshots with how each Zap step is configured, thanks.

 

Try searching for “file” and see if there is a variable for: File (exists but not shown)

⚡ Troy Tessalone - AutomationAce.com | Premier Certified Zapier Expert | #1 Zapier Community Contributor
ReevesUnitedWay
Userlevel 1

I have attached a PDF of all the steps up to the one where I cannot select File from the Insert Data option.

 

There is no option for File exists but is not shown. It just is not one of the options in that drop down menu. All the options are: 

 

As you can see, the closest thing is Attachment Type: File...but that is just txt. data on what type of attachment and not the actual attached file. 

1 Attachment
ken.a
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi there @ReevesUnitedWay,

I’m jumping in to see if I can help!

I did some digging into this, and it seems like the “New Attachment” trigger for Smartsheet doesn’t supply a file object or a publicly accessible link to the attachment. We do have an open feature request for this exact functionality, and I have added you as another interested member to the feature request. That does a few things:

  • Bring this to the attention of the integration developers
  • Help track interest in this feature being implemented
  • Allows us to notify you via email if this feature becomes available in the future

While I don't have an ETA on when this feature might be implemented, we will notify you via email if it is!

In the meantime, you might want to use a couple of “API Request (Beta)” action for a workaround. Here’s what the Zap setup will look like:

  1. Trigger: Smartsheet - New Row
  2. Action: Smartsheet - API Request (Beta) - GET: Copy this URL and paste it on the “URL” field: https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0/sheets/PASTE THE SHEET ID/rows/MAP THE ROW ID HERE/attachments
    91a0ef0a6032f0687f91ab5a91bcb599.png
    (view larger)
     
  3. Action: Smartsheet - API Request (Beta) - GET: Copy and paste this URL on the “URL” field: https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0/sheets/PASTE THE SHEET ID HERE/attachments/MAP THE DATA ID FROM THE 2ND STEP HERE
    20b5c0ddd1d990666a336594537fc9ca.png
    (view larger)
     
  4. Action: Google Drive

Hopefully, this helps! 😊

ReevesUnitedWay
Userlevel 1

Ken,

Thanks for this answer. It is disappointing to learn the functionality doesn’t exist for the Zap. It seems strange to me that it would be an existing Zap that I just found doing a Google search, but that it doesn’t actually work. 

I am not 100% clear how to try this beta you are recommending. It looks like I need to have three actions? After I put in the first action and hit test I get this error message:

Domain did not match expected domain filter `www.googleapis.com`.

So I was unable to continue to the other two actions.

ken.a
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi @ReevesUnitedWay,

Could you please share a screenshot of your setup? This is for me to take a closer look. You might be using the incorrect API Request (Beta) action based on the error you’re getting.

Thank you! 😊

ReevesUnitedWay
Userlevel 1

Attached is the screenshots.

1 Attachment
ken.a
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi @ReevesUnitedWay,

I looked at the screenshots, and it looks like you’re using the API Request (Beta) for Google Drive. Could you please change that to API Request (Beta) for Smartsheet instead? Here’s a screenshot:

ac79391309d0f7b825dca8c5e15b9320.png
(view larger)

Then you can setup the API Request (Beta) for Smartsheet this way:

  1. Trigger: Smartsheet - New Row
  2. Action: Smartsheet - API Request (Beta) - GET: Copy this URL and paste it on the “URL” field: https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0/sheets/PASTE THE SHEET ID/rows/MAP THE ROW ID HERE/attachments
    91a0ef0a6032f0687f91ab5a91bcb599.png
    (view larger)
     
  3. Action: Smartsheet - API Request (Beta) - GET: Copy and paste this URL on the “URL” field: https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0/sheets/PASTE THE SHEET ID HERE/attachments/MAP THE DATA ID FROM THE 2ND STEP HERE
    20b5c0ddd1d990666a336594537fc9ca.png
    (view larger)

Please give that a try. Thanks! 😊

ReevesUnitedWay
Userlevel 1

Thank you for helping with this. I am still experiencing issues.

I believe I am getting an error message in the Test phase of the second step (see all steps below). 

Also, in your screenshot, it indicates the Data ID should be a field called Response Data Data ID. I don’t have such a field as an option. So I tried the field called Response Data Ref ID, as that was the only field with an ID. But I know that is not right.

Even if this was working, all I have done is connect it to my Smartsheet twice. I don’t see how I have provided any information about the Google Drive that I am trying to export the attachments to. So I am still not clear how this Zap will work. 

I really appreciate your help!

 

 

 

ken.a
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi @ReevesUnitedWay,

Thanks for all the screenshots and additional information.

I've put together some screenshots and GIFs to guide you through the setup process:

  1. Start by creating a new row with an attachment in the chosen Sheet in the "Trigger" section. Use this newly created row as your sample data.
  2. For the trigger (New Row), you'll need to select the Sheet in the "Trigger" section of the trigger step and find the Sheet ID from there. Here's a handy screenshot to guide you:
    a8725019f6c1763d2d74b26789af9689.png
    (view larger)
     
  3. Moving on to the 2nd step, you'll need to input the Sheet ID from the selected Sheet from the trigger into the “URL” field of the API Request (Beta) in Smartsheet step. This step will fetch the attachment for the new row. It should look something like this:
    871a7e280e0a225382f345765117f5c7.gif
    (view larger)
     
  4. For the 3rd step, we're going to repeat what we did in the 2nd step, but with a different URL: https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0/sheets/PASTE THE SHEET ID HERE/attachments/MAP THE RESPONSE DATA DATA ID FROM THE 2ND STEP HERE. Then, map the "Response Data Data ID" from the 2nd step. Here's how it should look:
    480a0433703fddb0fa6e5b682f5e62df.gif
    (view larger)
     
  5. Finally, in the Google Drive step, map the "Response Data URL" from the 3rd step. It should look like this:
    a5953cc85584869dda46d6c71926eb4c.gif
    (view larger)

Hopefully, this clears everything out! 😊

ReevesUnitedWay
Userlevel 1

It is working!

This was super helpful. I didn’t realize that I could click to add the information to the URL. I thought I needed to type it in. I also thought the Row ID was the Row Number. I didn’t realize that the ID listed in the dropdown menu was for the row. Clearing that up really helped.

 

Thank you so much.

ReevesUnitedWay
Userlevel 1

Sorry. An additional question. This is set up to happen when a new row is added. But my workflow is such that new attachments will be added to already existing rows. I made a duplicate Zap that changed the action from New Row to New Attachments. I am curious if that will work. I am not seeing that it is. When I re-test, I am seeing error codes in the output. And I am not sure if it is because the process needs to change for New Attachment in the other actions steps or if this process just doesn’t work for New Attachment. 

This is from Step 2

Thank you!

ken.a
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi @ReevesUnitedWay,

I see! I apologize I completely missed your intended workflow. If that’s the case maybe we can try setting it up this way instead:

  1. Trigger: Smartsheet - New Attachment
  2. Action: Smartsheet - API Request (Beta) - This step will fetch the attachment from the trigger. Here’s how we’re going to set this up. Kindly use this URL and paste this to the “URL” field: https://api.smartsheet.com/2.0/sheets/{sheetId}/attachments/{attachmentId}/ Then edit the URL as shown below:
    bc58fb52d4db7719f8873ac2573fea30.gif
    (view larger)
     
  3. Action: Google Drive - Upload File - We’re going to map the “Response Data URL” from the 2nd step to the “File” field. Like so:
    dfe802310f54520a1d685622837120e2.gif
    (view larger)
     
  4. Here’s the uploaded file from Google Drive:
    cd934b03518455ef26c81ac6c9842eb0.png
    (view larger)

Please give this a try, and let me know how it goes! 😊

ReevesUnitedWay
Userlevel 1

This is super helpful. Does this mean that I do not need the third step that comes before the Upload File in Google Drive?

Right now the steps are:

  1. Trigger
  2. API Request (Beta) in Smartsheet
  3. API Request (Beta) In Smartsheet
  4. Upload File in Google Drive. 

Can I remove that third step?

ken.a
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi @ReevesUnitedWay,

That’s correct! We'll be using just one API Request (Beta) in Smartsheet step. You'll simply need to use a different URL, just as I demonstrated in the GIF above.

The Zap setup will look like this:

  1. Trigger: Smartsheet - New Attachement
  2. Action: Smartsheet - API Request (Beta)
  3. Action: Google Drive - Upload File

I hope this clarifies things for you! If you have any more questions, feel free to ask. Happy Zapping! 😊

ReevesUnitedWay
Userlevel 1

This has been outrageously helpful. It is working perfectly. Thank you.

ken.a
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi @ReevesUnitedWay,

You are most welcome!

I’m glad I was able to guide you and point you to the right direction.

If you have any other questions, please don’t hesitate to reach out to the Community. We’re always happy to help! 😊

M

Hi @ken.a 

How would you download multiple attachments that are in a row?

SamB
Rank
Userlevel 7
Badge +11

Hi there @Meet! 👋

Hopping in to see if I can help with this! It seems Smartsheet’s Get Attachment endpoint is only able to retrieve a single attachment not multiple attachments.

They have a List Attachments endpoint but that would only be able to pull all of the attachments for the sheet. It doesn’t appear possible to limit that request to pull all attachments for a specific row instead of the whole sheet.

The New Attachment trigger would trigger separately for each new attachment though so that should allow the Zap to see each attachment that’s added to the row. 

Hope that helps to clarify things here. Please do let us know if we can help with anything else! 🙂

T

Hey @ken.a, I know it has been a few months since anyone last posted in this chat. I stumbled across this post and this is exactly what I am looking for. Although instead of uploading the attachments to Google Drive, I would like them to be uploaded to a Sharepoint/Teams site. I tried setting up a similar workflow, but I do not think the fields for “Upload File in Microsoft Sharepoint” work the same as “Upload file to Google drive”

 

I am very new to Zapier, although I have had some experience with Power Automate. Any help/suggestions would be greatly appreciate!

ken.a
Userlevel 7
Badge +6

Hi @Travis.O,

The “Upload a File” in Microsoft Sharepoint action should be the as the Google Drive upload action. You’d need to map the file object or direct download URL to the “File” field.

You can read more about sending files via Zap here: https://help.zapier.com/hc/en-us/articles/8496288813453-Send-files-in-Zaps

Hopefully, this helps!

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