running script on an Inactive sheet

Question

I have been using the following script to move "Finished" columns from one sheet to another:

function onEdit(event) {
  var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();
  var s = event.source.getActiveSheet();
  var r = event.source.getActiveRange();

  if(s.getName() == "Sheet1" && r.getColumn() == 15  && r.getValue() == 
"Finished") {
    var row = r.getRow();
    var numColumns = s.getLastColumn();
    var targetSheet = ss.getSheetByName("Finished");
    var target = targetSheet.getRange(targetSheet.getLastRow() + 1, 1);
    s.getRange(row, 1, 1, numColumns).moveTo(target);
    s.deleteRow(row);
  }
}

Im trying to figure out how to get the script to run even if the sheet has not been opened or edited. Im just not sure how to go about changing it to use a time trigger every minute or so.

Answer 1

There are two aspects to the change to a timed trigger from onEdit.
The first concerns revisions to the code, the second is the trigger details.

Code
The code can't be re-used because the timed trigger doesn't provide the same event details as OnEdit.
In addition, it is possible that several rows might be tagged "Finished" between each trigger event, and the code needs to respond to them all. lastly, each "finished" row can't be deleted as it is found, because this affects the row number of all remaining rows in the column.

The following code would do the job:
Most of it will be familiar to the questioner. The main except is to keep a record of each row number that is moved to "Finished". This is done by pushing the row number onto an array. Then after all data has been examined and moved, there is a small loop that takes the row numbers recorded in the array and deletes the relevant row. The loop works from the highest row number to the lowest; this is so that the deletion of a row does not affect the row number of any remaining rows to be deleted.

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function so_53305432() {

    // set up the spreadsheet
    var ss = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet();

    // identify source and target sheets
    var sourceSheet = ss.getSheetByName("Sheet1");
    var targetSheet = ss.getSheetByName("Finished");

    // get some variables to use as ranges
    var sourcelastRow = sourceSheet.getLastRow();
    var numColumns = sourceSheet.getLastColumn();
    var targetLastRow  = targetSheet.getLastRow();

    // get data from the Source sheet
    var sourceData = sourceSheet.getRange(1, 1, sourcelastRow, numColumns).getValues();

    // set up some variables
    var finishedRows = [];
    var i = 0;
    var x = 0;
    var temp = 0;


    // loop through column 15 (O) checking for value = "Finished"
    for (i = 0; i < sourcelastRow; i++) {

        // If value = Finished
        if (sourceData[i][14] == "Finished") {

            // define the target range and move the source row
            var targetLastRow  = targetSheet.getLastRow();
            var target = targetSheet.getRange(targetLastRow + 1, 1);
            sourceSheet.getRange(+i + 1, 1, 1, numColumns).moveTo(target);

            // keep track of the source row number.
            finishedRows.push(i);
        }
    }

    // set up variables for loop though the rows to be deleted
    var finishedLength = finishedRows.length;
    var startcount = finishedLength - 1

    // loop throught the array to delete rows; start with the highest row# first
    for (x = startcount; x > -1; x--) {
        // get the row number for the script
        temp = +finishedRows[x] + 1;
        // delete the row
        sourceSheet.deleteRow(temp);
    }

}

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Trigger
The trigger needs to be revised. To do this:
1) Open the script editor, select Current Project Triggers. OnEdit should appear as an existing trigger with an event type of OnEdit.
2) Change "Choose which function to run" to the new function,
3) Change "Select Event Source" from Spreadsheet to "Time Driven".
4) Select "Type of time based trigger" = "Minutes Timer".
5) Select "Select Minute Interval" = , and select a time period and interval.
6) Save the trigger, and then close the Trigger tab

If "Every Minute" is found to be too often, then the Questioner could try "Every 5 minutes".

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