Notify someone when an update is created only if the someone is not the person updating

Hi! I’ve been successful limiting how many emails our organization receives from monday.com by having everyone receive notifications only if they are sent via automations. I have this automation: “When an update is created, notify Person (Staff to Update).”

The only problem with this is when the person in the Person (Staff to Update) column is the person creating the update, they also receive an email that they created the update. My teammates don’t like getting too many unnecessary emails from monday.com. Is there a way I can modify this that I don’t see so the automation can be something like: “When an update is created, and only if update is created by not Person (Staff to Update), notify Person (Staff to Update).”

Thanks!

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Are these all different people or how do you have this setup?

I have created a board with 2 “notify this person with [entered text]” columns that also adds an update with the name of who it is going to and who created it.


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CB & NS are our 2 construction managers so they are the only ones that need to be notified on this board but if you have a board with a person attached… instead of “particular person” from this automation from my board you’d choose “people column” instead.

(the numbers is so that it doesn’t notify him & add 2 updates twice (once when the text is written and twice when it clears)

We also have a column that used just for general updates (when we don’t need to notify someone) that you could tweak to use if you are only trying to update only the person in the people column

LMK if this helps or you need help setting it up!

Nice thank you! Here is my situation, this is a series of shared boards that make up our system for staff to create support tickets and supervisors to track progress on those tickets. Updates on the task are otherwise working well for this since each situation is so unique and the updates our team likes to get are things like: “Handyman called, scheduled for Tuesday.” “Handyman came but needed extra tools so will return and we aren’t sure when.” etc This is a relevant picture from one of the boards:

The Staff to Update column is populated from a workflow when a ticket is created based on who the supervisor of the person submitting the ticket is. Then I have an automation so that person receives an email notification whenever an update on the task is created so they can track progress and share details with their staff, particularly those on the front-line without a need for a seat in Monday. Here’s the relevant automation:

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The problem I’m hearing is, while the supervisors like getting the email notification when an update is created by someone else, they don’t like getting the email notification when they are the ones doing the updating. I like how you’ve used a separate column for job updates, but still think that it would be difficult to only send a notification when a specific person modifies the column. What I’m hoping for is a way to update my automation or create a workaround so the workflow achieves: “When an update is created, and only if (the update is created by a person not in the “staff to update” column), then notify Staff to Update.”

The last piece of information is from the very beginning of our Monday.com journey, we have been deliberate about using email notifications and reducing unnecessary email notifications. What’s worked for us so far is having everyone set their profile settings to only get emails if they are mentioned in an update with @ or to only receive emails via automations. That way the messages they get are the ones our Monday.com managers create automations for. It’s worked well but this problem here is one last annoying wrinkle.

Thanks for encouraging me to provide more details like your example!

is this on?

if it IS then here is a workaround if you don’t need the team member column for something else…

create the 2 update columns like I have
1st for [update staff] & 2nd [update by owner]

1st if for all teammates needing update to notify the owner and 2nd is for the owner to just add an update without any notifications

switch the “Staff to update” column to a dropdown box so each staff member is a label

then use this automation

my [Job updates] column would be your [update staff] column

you will need to replicate this automation for each staff member.

This way nobody is technically “per monday” attached to the line item so any update that is created Monday doesn’t actually have anybody to notify because the owner column wouldn’t exist.

No, I have everyone defaulting to get an email when they are assigned to an item, mentioned in a post or reply, and via automations. What is the difference between being an “owner” of an item, and being “subscribed” to an item? If an automation assigns a person in any column of an item, are they then subscribed? Or will people start getting emails any time an update is created on a board whether it’s relevant to them or not, i.e. if they are not assigned to any people columns?

Sure is hard trying to find the right amount of email notifications for everyone, and thanks for your help!

Sorry at first I only saw the first screenshot for some reason. I see how your workaround can work and will test it out.

Actually this won’t work for me. I need the updates to be actual Monday.com updates where people can be tagged with @ and it will keep a record of any conversation related to a specific task for review at any time. I can’t really use a freeform text column to create these updates because these need to be a conversation thread among multiple team members.

If I switch it up and ditch automations to notify when an update is made, in favor of suggesting all users ensure Email notifications turned on in these cases:
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What does it mean to be a subscriber? Does that mean anyone who is Invited to the board, and will all subscribers get notifications whenever there’s an update anywhere, even if they are the ones doing the update? And who does “owner” default to if an item is created via an automation from a form?

Email notifications setting checked only for automations works well in just about every other case, giving me the control over when an email is sent. But I want to use updates on each item for conversations in a thread, with an email notification sent that an update was made, and I want to make sure there are no notifications sent to the person doing the updating if it’s possible.

I was just about to respond back that I missed a step!


Job updates to and not to notify a specific person - Watch Video

Checking in with you Brad, as I am currently struggling with the same issue. Project Owners will start to ignore alerts from Monday.com if they are alerted every time they also post an update/change themselves. I am hoping you found a good resolution/workaround to this.

Hi Christine-

The solution I found was “good enough.” Basically, in my small organization, it was enough for me to say “I’m going to put the Monday power in your hands” and remove the automations I had created that sent emails every time there was an update. What happened was the people who felt like they were getting too many emails would change their personal settings accordingly and would have to be responsible for logging into Monday.com and checking their My Work or Update Feed. Everyone is responsible for knowing what’s on Monday.com and they customize their own notification settings. I still have some automations that send reminders as due dates approach if things aren’t marked done, but if people decide to switch off receiving email notifications from automations, that’s on them.

Organizational procedures to tag folks with an @ work pretty well for us also for updates specifically.

Thanks!

Brad