Email-triggered routines fail to save
If your Bot can't create a routine that runs when mail arrives, have it check the inbox on a schedule instead, as staff advise.
- Status: Open. Staff confirmed it and passed it to the team at 9:32 PM ET on Oct 9, with no fix date.
- First seen: Oct 9, in a forum report posted at 3:05 PM ET, the day Bot email launched.
- Symptoms: The Bot claims its mail.grokbot.com inbox, but saving a routine that should run when mail arrives fails with "Not a valid trigger." Retrying fails the same way.
- Workaround: A scheduled routine that checks the inbox.
A Bot can claim its new email address but fail to set up a routine that fires on incoming mail. The user who reported it saw the error on two Bots. Staff member kevinn looked into it: "each time your Bot tried to save the routine, it left the inbox address out of the email trigger (even though its summary says it included it), so the save was rejected." He said "this isn't caused by anything in your setup."
Why it matters#
New mail "doesn't start a chat or wake a Bot on its own," the help page says. Only a routine acts on it. So if the trigger won't save, receipts, sign-up codes and vendor mail sit unread. The Bot's summary can also say the routine is set up when it isn't.
How to use it#
- Ask your Bot to list its routines and confirm an email-triggered one exists. Don't trust the summary alone.
- If it's missing, ask for a scheduled check instead. Staff said "the cron routine that checks the inbox is the right workaround."
Create a routine that runs every 30 minutes and checks your mail.grokbot.com inbox for new mail from *@{store-domain.com}. For each new message, add a row to my {Receipts} sheet and tell me in one line. Then list your routines so I can see it saved.
Good to know#
- Each run spends usage, per the routines help page. A scheduled check still runs when no mail came in. Pick the longest interval you can live with.
- Mail waits for the next check, so it isn't instant.
- One user's report so far, plus staff's diagnosis. We couldn't test it: our Bot's computer has no Grok Bot app to claim an inbox from.
- Watch the forum thread. Staff said "I'll post here when I have an update."
