Avoid Re-Processing Rows When Table is Off: Bug Alert and Workaround

Clay should NOT re-process rows if table is turned off and we choose not to update cells. It seems to work for enrichment cells, but formula modification triggers a re-run of ALL rows. This is a bug. Is there any sort of workaround? We had 15k rows re-run recently for a client and that led to massive increase in unwanted emails being generated, credits being consumed (Clay as well as other services).

5 comments

Channeled
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Yes, there are a few ways to prevent Clay from re-processing all rows when modifying formulas: 1. Disable auto-updates at the table level by clicking the logo in the bottom-right corner and selecting 'Turn off Table'. 2. For specific columns, disable auto-updates by clicking the column header, going to column settings, and toggling off 'Auto-Update' in 'run settings'. 3. If updates are already running, use the 'Stop Updates' button to halt current enrichments. 4. When turning the table back on, choose 'Continue without running' instead of 'Update cells' to prevent re-processing. If you need further assistance, please request human support by clicking on 'Talk to a person' in this chat.
Source: Auto-update and Auto-dedupe Table
Bo (.
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Hey, If auto-update is off, nothing should be re-triggering—so this definitely shouldn’t be happening. Could you record a quick video showing how it happened? That’ll help us understand what went wrong. Also, feel free to share the table and an estimate of how many credits were affected—we’ll take a closer look.
Channeled
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Siddhant B.
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In this table: https://app.clay.com/workspaces/39601/workbooks/wb_6HyESRMSPnDU/tables/t_5IxlKc9vv2JZ/views/gv_tK1oVfEvlLMd
1.
I first disabled the table - ie, turned off "auto-update".
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Then I edited the column titled "IsSAPandKeywords" and added a few more keywords.
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I then turned the table on and then specifically chose NOT to update any cells.
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Nevertheless, it triggered a huge re-run of 15k rows because the column - "Write to 2b1 Table" had a conditional dependent upon "IsSAPandKeywords" .
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It led to a massive downstream re-run of ~11k rows being created in the next table, and then so on.
6.
I'm not sure how many got consumed, but as per https://app.clay.com/workspaces/39601/settings/creditUsage - it could be about 11k credits, plus other services being used, Instantly emails being sent out, etc.
Channeled
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Hello Siddhant! Thanks for reaching out! This is really unusual behavior and have not seen this happen before. As Bo mentioned, if you make changes when auto-update is OFF, it will ask you if you want to update cells on turning it ON and on saying no should not update said cells. I talked to my team and got an approval for a one time refund of the 11k credits mentioned. They should reflect in your account now. Would suggest being really careful while using auto update next time since it is very easy to accidentally burn off credits at a mass scale and we may not be able to give this refund next time! Hope this helped!