Weekly Close and Valuation Task Digest: A Zapier Automation That Emails You Every Monday

What This Builds

Every Monday morning an email lands in your own inbox listing the close and valuation tasks that need you this week: the ones past due, the ones with no due date at all, and the ones due inside a window you choose. The subject line carries two counts, so you know before opening it whether the week starts quietly or badly.

The sheet does all the thinking. Formulas flag each task, a Summary tab collects the flagged lines into one cell, and Zapier carries that cell to your inbox. There is no AI step, so no task information goes to an AI vendor. Nothing is sent to a reviewer, a colleague or a manager. The email goes to you, and you decide who hears about what.

Prerequisites

• A Google account that holds the sheet, and a Gmail address you are allowed to send from. If your company runs Google Workspace, ask IT whether outside apps such as Zapier may connect to it.
• A Professional plan or better ($29.99/month). The Zap has a trigger plus two actions, which is three steps, and Zapier's free plan allows two-step Zaps only. Check Zapier's current plan page before you build.
• Total ongoing cost of the finished build: the Zapier plan above. Google Sheets and Gmail cost nothing extra on a Google account you already have. Each weekly run uses two tasks (the lookup and the email), so roughly 8 to 10 tasks a month. Zapier counts only successful action steps as tasks.
• Comfort writing a spreadsheet formula and copying it down a column.
• Your company's AI and data policy read, and an answer on whether Zapier is an approved tool for even this coded data (see "What Zapier Sees and Keeps" below).

The Concept

Think of the Summary tab as a noticeboard with one card pinned to it. The sheet rewrites the card whenever anything changes: the Tasks tab. Zapier is the person who walks to the noticeboard every week, copies the card and drops it in your inbox.

The card is always there, and that matters because of how Zapier's search step behaves. A lookup that finds zero rows halts the Zap ("Safely halted" in Zap History), no later step runs and no email goes out. If the Zap searched the Tasks tab for "tasks due soon", a quiet week would return no rows and no email, and you could not tell a quiet week from a broken Zap. By searching for one Summary row whose Key is always "summary", the lookup always finds a row, so the email arrives every week even when the card says nothing needs you.

The Zap contains no AI step and no formula logic of its own. The sheet decides what is flagged. Zapier only moves one cell's text from the sheet to your inbox.

What Zapier Sees and Keeps

Zapier handles whatever the Zap reads, and Zap History stores the data of each step. The lookup step stores the whole Summary row, and the Gmail step stores the subject and body. In this build that means task codes, owner codes, short cycle labels, due dates and status values.

Keep these out of the sheet entirely: anyone's real name, the names of policyholders or clients, any figure, result, reserve or assumption value, and any description of what a task involves. Use codes such as "T-104" and "Analyst A", a short cycle label such as "Q1 close", and keep the key that explains the codes in your team's own files. Results, figures and assumption values stay in your workbook and your model and never go in this sheet. Even coded data belongs to your company, so check the company's AI and data policy and whether Zapier is an approved tool before you connect it. If it is not approved, stop after Part 2 and use the sheet alone: the Summary tab works as a dashboard you open on Monday.

Build It Step by Step

Part 1: Build the Tasks Tab

Create a new spreadsheet or open the tracker you built in the Level 2 guide. Name one tab exactly Tasks and another exactly Summary. Tab names are case-sensitive in formulas, so match them.

On Tasks, row 1 holds the headers and each task gets one row from row 2 down.

Add the Status dropdown with Data, then Data validation, then Add rule, pick Dropdown, and enter the four values on E2:E201. Format D as a date and F as a plain number.

On Summary, row 1 holds these headers and row 2 holds the one data row.

Look Ahead Days is your own setting. Choose it from how much warning your team's practice calls for. This guide states no deadline or calendar rule.

Part 2: Add the Formulas

Paste each formula into row 2 of its column and copy it down to row 201. That leaves room for 200 tasks. Every range below ends at row 201, so extend them all together if you ever need more rows.

Days Left, cell F2

=IF(OR(A2="",D2=""),"",D2-TODAY())

Blank when there is no task code or no due date. Otherwise the due date minus today, so a date in the past gives a negative number.

Flag, cell G2

=IF(A2="","",IF(E2="Done","Closed",IF(E2="Sent for review","With reviewer",IF(D2="","Missing date",IF(F2<0,"PAST DUE",IF(F2<=Summary!$B$2,"DUE SOON","Later"))))))

The formula reads left to right and stops at the first test that is true.

• Task empty: blank. This is why a formula filled down to row 201 stays silent on empty rows.
• Status Done: "Closed".
• Status Sent for review: "With reviewer".
• Due Date empty: "Missing date".
• Days Left below 0: "PAST DUE".
• Days Left at or below Look Ahead Days (Summary!$B$2): "DUE SOON".
• Anything else: "Later".

Closed and With reviewer come first on purpose. A finished task, or one sitting with the reviewer, usually has a due date in the past. If the date tests ran first, every finished task would show PAST DUE forever and the email would fill with noise you learn to ignore. Testing the status first lets a task that is done or out of your hands drop out of the alerts whatever its date says. A blank Status next to a task code falls through to the date tests and is treated as still open.

Digest Line, cell H2

=IF(A2="","",A2&" | "&B2&" | "&C2&" | due "&IF(D2="","no date",TEXT(D2,"yyyy-mm-dd")&", "&IF(F2<0,-F2&IF(F2=-1," day"," days")&" past",IF(F2=0,"today","in "&F2&IF(F2=1," day"," days"))))&" | "&G2)

The line reads Task | Owner | Cycle | due date with a day count | Flag. The date is wrapped in TEXT so it prints as 2027-02-26 and not as a serial number. A blank due date prints "no date", and a blank task row returns blank.

Action Count, Summary!C2

=COUNTIF(Tasks!$G$2:$G$201,"PAST DUE")+COUNTIF(Tasks!$G$2:$G$201,"Missing date")+COUNTIF(Tasks!$G$2:$G$201,"DUE SOON")

Past Due Count, Summary!D2

=COUNTIF(Tasks!$G$2:$G$201,"PAST DUE")

Both count the labels the Flag column writes for filled rows. Empty rows return blank, so they are never counted.

Digest Lines, Summary!E2

=IFERROR(TEXTJOIN(CHAR(10),TRUE,FILTER(Tasks!$H$2:$H$201,(Tasks!$G$2:$G$201="PAST DUE")+(Tasks!$G$2:$G$201="Missing date")+(Tasks!$G$2:$G$201="DUE SOON"))),"Nothing due in the look-ahead window")

The three ranges inside FILTER all run from row 2 to row 201, so they are the same height. FILTER keeps the Digest Line of every row whose Flag is one of the three action labels, and TEXTJOIN stacks those lines with a line break between them. When nothing matches, FILTER returns an error and IFERROR substitutes the fallback sentence, so the cell is never empty.

Re-read each formula once after pasting. Count the opening and closing parentheses, confirm every Tasks range ends at row 201, and confirm the tab names match.

Part 3: Keep Calculation on Automatic

TODAY() recalculates as the sheet is used. Google's calculation settings page lists only two choices, Automatic and Manual, and no scheduled recalculation. In the sheet, open File, then Settings, then the Calculation tab, and keep the mode on Automatic. If the counts in an email look stale, open the sheet before the run and check that the day-count column matches today's date.

Part 4: Build the Zap

In Zapier, create a new Zap with three steps.

1. Trigger. Choose the app Schedule by Zapier and the event Every Week. Pick Monday and a morning time, for example before you start work.
2. Action. Choose Google Sheets and the event Lookup Spreadsheet Row. Connect your Google account. Then choose the spreadsheet and the Summary tab. Set the lookup column to Key and the lookup value to summary. Add no other condition. The sheet already did the work, and you want a lookup that always finds its row.
3. Action. Choose Gmail and the event Send Email. In To, enter your own address and nobody else's. In Subject, build the line in this order: the text Close digest: , the Action Count field from step 2, the text actions,, the Past Due Count field and the text past due. In Body, insert the Digest Lines field from step 2. If the action offers a Body type setting, choose plain text so the line breaks from the sheet survive.

Zapier lists the Summary columns as fields named after your row 1 headers. If a header is missing from the field list, run the lookup test again so Zapier reloads the headers.

Test each step. The lookup test should return the summary row with the counts and the digest text. The email test should reach your inbox. Then turn the Zap on.

Part 5: Test and Refine

Add a dummy task row with a past due date and Status In progress. Confirm that Flag reads PAST DUE, that both counts rise by one and that the line appears in Digest Lines. Then change its Status to Done and confirm that it disappears. Delete the dummy row when done.

Real Example: A Monday in February

Invented setup: today is Monday 2027-02-22 and Look Ahead Days is 7, so a task is DUE SOON when its due date falls on or before 2027-03-01. All codes and dates are invented.

Working through the Flag formula:

• T-101: Days Left is 2027-02-19 minus 2027-02-22, which is -3. Not Done, not sent for review, date present and below 0, so PAST DUE.
• T-102: due today, so Days Left is 0. It is not below 0 and 0 is at most 7, so DUE SOON.
• T-103: 2027-02-26 minus 2027-02-22 is 4, at most 7, so DUE SOON.
• T-104: 2027-03-01 minus 2027-02-22 is 7 (6 days left in February plus 1 in March). 7 is at most 7, so DUE SOON. The window includes its last day.
• T-105: 2027-03-02 minus 2027-02-22 is 8. Above 7, so Later.
• T-106: no due date, so Days Left is blank and the Flag is Missing date.
• T-107: the due date is 4 days past, but Status is Sent for review, so With reviewer. It is not an alert.
• T-108: 10 days past, but Status is Done, so Closed.
• Row 10: no task code, so every formula returns blank and nothing is counted.

Counts: PAST DUE is 1 (T-101), Missing date is 1 (T-106) and DUE SOON is 3 (T-102, T-103 and T-104). Action Count is 1 + 1 + 3 = 5. Past Due Count is 1.

The Digest Lines cell holds five lines in sheet order:

T-101 | Analyst A | Q1 close | due 2027-02-19, 3 days past | PAST DUE
T-102 | Analyst B | Q1 close | due 2027-02-22, today | DUE SOON
T-103 | Analyst A | Q1 close | due 2027-02-26, in 4 days | DUE SOON
T-104 | Analyst C | Q1 valuation | due 2027-03-01, in 7 days | DUE SOON
T-106 | Analyst C | Q1 valuation | due no date | Missing date

The email arrives with the subject "Close digest: 5 actions, 1 past due" and those five lines in the body. If every task were Later, With reviewer or Closed, both counts would be 0 and the body would read "Nothing due in the look-ahead window". The email still arrives.

Setup: one spreadsheet, one Zap, three steps. Input: the Monday schedule and the rows you keep current. Output: one email to you with two counts in the subject and the flagged tasks in the body. Time saved: the weekly scan of the whole task list, which depends on how long your list is. The digest is only as current as your last edit, so updating Status and dates is the price.

What to Do When It Breaks

• No email arrived on Monday. This is the failure you will not see, because a stopped Zap makes no noise. Check that the Zap is switched on. Then open Zap History for the run. A "Safely halted" lookup means no row had Key equal to summary, usually because someone renamed the Key cell, changed its text or moved the Summary tab. Restore the text summary in A2 exactly. A run that never appears at all usually means the Zap was turned off or the Google connection expired. Reconnect the account under your Zapier connected accounts and re-test the lookup.
• Put a standing reminder in your calendar. If no digest has arrived by mid-morning on Monday, treat that as the alarm and check the Zap that day.
• Counts look wrong or stale. Open the sheet and confirm Calculation is on Automatic. Then check that Days Left matches today's date arithmetic.
• The email says nothing needs you, but you know something is close. The digest only reflects the rows. Check that the task is in the tab, that its due date is a real date and not text, and that the Status is not Done or Sent for review.
• Dates show as long numbers. A date was joined without TEXT. Re-paste the Digest Line formula exactly.
• A formula shows #REF! or #NAME?. A tab was renamed. Rename it back, or fix the tab name inside the formulas.
• Line breaks collapse in the email. Switch the Gmail step to plain text if it offers a body type. Then re-test.

Variations

• Simpler version: skip Zapier and open the Summary tab each Monday. The counts and lines are the same.
• Extended version: add a Google Form for new tasks. Form answers land on their own responses tab, and you copy each one into Tasks yourself. Never point a Form at the Tasks tab, because it would overwrite your formulas. The Zap still runs on its schedule.
• A second weekday: copy the Zap and set the copy to run on another day.

What to Do Next

• This week: build the tab and test with dummy rows. Then switch the Zap on and read the first real email against the sheet.
• This month: tune Look Ahead Days after you see how many lines each Monday produces.
• Advanced: build the sister digests for peer review backlog and model change documentation, each in its own spreadsheet with its own Summary tab.

Advanced guide for actuarial analysts. The digest flags dates and statuses you have typed. It does not set a due date, decide what a task requires or contact anyone. Your team's close and valuation practice sets the dates, and Zapier and Google may change their screens, so follow the labels you see.