AppSheet Bot Trigger Fails on Google Form Submit + Apps Script Update, But Works on Manual Update

[vikvan]

Hi AppSheet Community,

I'm experiencing an issue with a Bot trigger that seems related to external updates.

Setup:

A Google Form adds a row to a Google Sheet (used as "Table A" in my AppSheet app).
An Apps Script using an onFormSubmit trigger successfully updates a "Status Column" in the newly added row to "Pending" almost instantly. (Verified in the Sheet).
An AppSheet Bot is configured on "Table A" with the trigger set to Adds & Updates and no Event Condition. This Bot should process rows when Status is "Pending".
Problem:

The AppSheet Bot does not reliably trigger automatically when the row is added by the Form and subsequently updated by the Apps Script (setting the status). No Bot execution appears in the Audit Log for this initial event.

However:

If I manually edit the same row via the AppSheet app interface after the Apps Script has already set the Status to "Pending", the Bot triggers correctly via the Update event and runs its full logic successfully (verified in Audit Log).

Question:

Is there a known issue or limitation regarding Bot triggers (specifically Adds or Updates caused by external scripts like onFormSubmit) not firing reliably, while triggers caused by manual edits within the AppSheet app do work?

I've confirmed the Bot is enabled and the underlying logic works when triggered manually. The core issue seems to be the initial trigger detection from the sheet change made by the script.

Any insights or similar experiences would be appreciated.

Thanks!

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

T

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@vikvan wrote:

An Apps Script using an onFormSubmit trigger successfully updates a "Status Column" in the newly added row to "Pending" almost instantly. (Verified in the Sheet).

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This sounds like an "external eventing" as AppSheet terminology calls it.

External eventing is supported only of the user makes the change to the underlying Google sheet.

Please take a look at the following help article and the highlighted excerpt from it.

External eventing with Google Sheets - AppSheet Help

[The_Don]

Thank you @Suvrutt_Gurjar ! Started building my first app yesterday day and had spent an hour or two troubleshooting the failed notification before I came across your post

[Suvrutt_Gurjar]

You are welcome @The_Don.

Welcome to the community and best wishes to your apps creation.