Forum Discussion

TylerKipps's avatar
TylerKipps
Qrew Member
8 years ago

Reminder to be sent within minutes

I would like to be able to send an email reminder within fifteen minutes of a due date. For example, if a user sets the due date for a task to be today at noon and the task is not yet complete I'd like an email reminder to be sent to the person working on said task. I realize email reminders are only sent out within days of something occurring (or not occurring) and they are only sent overnight.
The idea I had to work around this would be to use an email notification. If I were to create a formula- checkbox field with the following formula:
If(ToMinutes([Due Date] - Now()) <= 15, true, false)
I'd like to set an email notification to the checkbox being checked. But it doesn't seem to work. Is what I want to do simply not possible?
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  • EvanMartinez's avatar
    EvanMartinez
    Quickbase Staff
    8 years ago
    Hi Tyler,

    Notifications are set to trigger when a record is specifically opened and saved by an end user. As such a change on a formula field will not trigger a notification on its own. As those changes aren't a user triggered update. So the work around of a checkbox that checks via a formula won't meet your need. With our current notifications and reminders you would probably need a scripting or Partner Solution to get the level of focus you are looking form.

    If you feel this would be a beneficial feature in Quick Base, I would encourage you to submit feedback regarding this via our Feedback Platform - UserVoice - Which can most easily be accessed from the My Apps page in Quick Base by clicking on the orange Feedback tab or at http://quickbase.uservoice.com .  This forum is used by our development team to explore customer suggestions for enhancements / changes to the platform. Many of the items that have been suggested by customers have already been incorporated into Quick Base and I would encourage you to participate as well. Thank you very much for your time today Tyler. 
  • _anomDiebolt_'s avatar
    _anomDiebolt_
    Qrew Elite
    8 years ago
    There is no mechanism within QuickBase itself that will periodically poll your tables and send an email as a due date/time approaches. Normally this type of functionality is implement using an external server where it can be "set and forget" using a service named a cron job.  On the other hand an external service is probably going to cost you something and may add another point of failure to your overall workflow.

    If you are willing to leave a browser tab open throughout the business day you can accomplish this with either (1) a script running on an interval in the open tab or (2) through a Chrome extension Crontabs:

    Crontabs
    Easy time management and tab scheduling for Chrome
    http://www.crontabs.org/

    Crontabs Chrome Extension
    https://chrome.google.com/webstore/detail/crontabs/abhmbcedbojnghofcfmnageegmkmpkac?hl=en

    In either of these two options, the basic idea is for a page to query on a 15 minute interval using the API for those records which are within 15 minutes of their target time.  Then the script edits those records changing a date/time field to the current time. A notification can then trigger informing the user that the target time is approaching. You will need to craft the notification so that it emphasizes that the target time is approaching rather than that the date/time field has change.

    if you need assistance setting this up feel free to contact me me off-world using the information in my profile:

    https://getsatisfaction.com/people/dandiebolt/