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Troubleshooting scheduled report triggers in Google Sheets

Scheduled report triggers for Supermetrics in Google Sheets enable you to seamlessly refresh your queries and send out copies of these refreshed reports by email.


If you encounter errors or failed refreshes, there are a few best practices that can help. You can see all the triggers assigned to the account you're logged in to at any time by clicking Schedule tab → Manage triggers in the Supermetrics sidebar.

About trigger run limits

Note that Google limits trigger runs to 6 minutes per hour, and unfinished trigger runs are pushed to the next hour. The same happens with the ones that were in the "queue" for that hour. This limit is at an account level. If you have multiple files triggering at the same hour, they all need to finish within 6 minutes.


This 6-minute limit doesn't affect Supermetrics enhanced scheduled refreshes. Learn more about enhanced scheduled refreshes.


Fix one broken trigger

The best first step for an issue with an individual trigger is to try removing and then re-adding it.


To do this, open the Schedule tab in the Supermetrics sidebar. Click the trash can icon next to it to delete it. Then, click Add trigger and create a new version of the deleted trigger.


If this doesn't help, follow the guidance for fixing more than one trigger below.


Fix multiple broken triggers

Check timing and timezones

The time that you set a trigger to run at is the time it'll begin processing. If you have a lot of large queries, it can take several hours for the refresh to complete.


If a trigger is set to run late at night, say at 11:00 PM or later, it might fail to complete before midnight. This would cause it to fail, as the date would change before it could complete. Moving the trigger time to earlier in the evening, or early the next morning, solves this issue.


Triggers are set to run in a timezone that you choose during setup. If the timezone in the Sheets file changes, the triggers won’t update to match it. To reset a trigger’s timezone, follow the steps under "Fix one broken trigger" above to delete it and re-add it.

Space triggers out

Running multiple triggers at exactly the same time can cause them to slow down or fail. Make sure to space your triggers out across the full day — run some in the morning, for example, and then others just after midnight — to maximize the speed they'll be able to run at.

Check accounts and permissions

If the files your triggers are attached to are in a shared Google Drive, or any location other than the licensed user’s Google Drive, the triggers will fail. Move the file to the licensed user’s Google Drive.

Optimize queries

Creating lighter queries can help ensure that triggers continue to work properly. Enabling the "Combine new results with old" setting and deleting any unnecessary triggers or queries from your sheets are good ways to achieve this.

Check email attachments

If your queries are refreshing properly but you’re not receiving emailed reports, it could be because the email attachment is larger than Google supports. You can reduce the amount of content in the file, or split queries and triggers into separate Google Sheets files, to help with this.


Custom sender addresses can cause scheduled refresh emails to fail. We recommend you set the sender address as noreply@supermetrics.com to ensure reliable delivery.


Get in touch

If you’ve tried these solutions and are still seeing errors, contact our support team. When you do, please include the following information so we can get to work as quickly as possible:

  • The file’s URL, with temporary edit access enabled for the email address supportfileshare@supermetrics.com
  • A screenshot of your list of triggers (under Schedule tab → Manage triggers in the sidebar)
  • A screenshot of the SupermetricsQueries tab

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