Hello everyone,
I’ve recently encountered a limitation in the new AppSheet automation builder that wasn’t present in older apps.
In the past, when setting up an automation (specifically scheduled reports or bots), I was able to directly select a slice as the data source. This was extremely useful for filtering datasets precisely — for example, sending reports only for rows from April, or a defined group of users.
However, in recent apps, I’ve noticed that the automation interface no longer allows selecting slices as the source table in the Event section — even though this was possible in older apps I built, and still works in them to this day.
I’ve confirmed:
The slice is correctly built with a valid filter.
The slice is used in a view.
I attempted to use the slice via the filter condition instead, but it doesn’t behave the same way (especially for scheduled bots where precise date ranges like full months are needed).
When comparing to older apps, I can still see and select slices directly in automation, and it works perfectly.
My request:
Is this change intentional from the AppSheet team?
If yes, can we please have an official workaround or bring back the ability to use slices directly in automations?
Filtering using expressions in the automation step is not as clean, especially for non-developers who rely on the slice-building interface.
Thanks,
Mahmoud.
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