Auto Attach Report .pdf to new source sheet row

Is it possible to take data from a Report and have it auto export as pdf/excel file and attach that new file to another sheets row?

Case: We have a User Access process built and once a month, the primary owners of each software need to review the user access as a pdf file. We were using the "Send as Attachment" feature in reports to send out monthly report to the primary owner as a pdf through email but our auditing process has changed and that pdf file needs to run through our internal ticketing system (built in Smartsheet) for approval/auditing. So as mentioned, is there a way to get that pdf from the report to be attached to a specific row so I can use automations to feed it into our ticketing system?

Thank you for any thoughts or ideas for this request. I'm hoping it won't need to be a manual process for my team.

-Michael

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Paul Newcome

You will have to leverage the API for this. The premium add-on Bridge might be able to help, and other third party apps such as Zapier might be able to help as well.

MHalvey

Hey @Paul Newcome - thank you for the ideas. I have very little knowledge into API builds. But we do have Bridge and I was reviewing some of the Smartsheet modules like "Get Report" however what is does and how it works is limited in this section. I can't find many details on Bridge other than discussions here and the few University training sections.

I'll take a look at Zapier but I'm almost 100% sure my Directs wouldn't want to buy another software or manage another one either.

Thank you again for taking the time,

Michael

Paul Newcome

@Kelly Moore Do you think Bridge might be able to do this? Basically we need to automatically export a Report on a regular basis and have that Excel or PDF attach to a specific row in a sheet.

Kelly Moore

Hey @Paul Newcome and @MHalvey

I would love to say I was the one who worked this out when I had the same need, but all credit goes to the talented and gracious smartsheet product manager.

Smartsheet does have info in it's API documentation. In the documentation there is a call to send a report as a PDF.

Some notes on next steps:

Replace the {reportId} bit in the URL field with an actual report ID.
In the Header > Authorization section, after Bearer in the Value #1 field, you'll need to put your Smartsheet API token.
In the Body field, adjust the verbiage to what you need - who to send to, email title, etc. Here's an example:
{"sendTo" : [{"email": "your.email@somecompany.com"}], "subject": "Testing Bridge Report Send As", "message": "Testing McTesterson", "ccMe": false, "format": "EXCEL", "formatDetails": {"paperSize": "A4"}}
Check the box for Response Handler, that way the Run Log will show when the run is successful or if it gives an error.

It works for both PDF and EXCEL format. From there, you'll just need to set your trigger in the trigger command section.

Kelly

Paul Newcome

Thanks @Kelly Moore!

MHalvey

Hello @Kelly Moore and @Paul Newcome - Thank you for taking the time to follow up and share this information. I am very new to Bridge and it's abilities, let alone the API section you shared.

So for my example and if I'm understanding correctly and using Bridge. I could create a Bridge trigger for "When a Row is Change" and have a checkbox check (sheet level automation), once a month causing the Bridge trigger to work.

That would cause this Bridge trigger to Send report via email to a specific user.

How does that attachment from the email then return to a specific row in a sheet? I believe I must of missed a step or is there another module from Bridge that's needed?

I appreciate the time you are putting into this and helping me with this problem.

Thank you again,

Michael

Kelly Moore

Hey @MHalvey

I missed that last step in your process of needing the attachment sent to another sheet. That's a problem that no one has seemed to crack yet, at least doing it automatically. To make it easier to do manually, there is the Outlook Add-in that lets you view smartsheet directly from outlook so you don't have to jump from one app to another. But it's still manual. Here's more on the outlook add-in.

Because I dabble in Power Automate, coincidentally this week I've been working on a project involving bringing an document file link from a sharepoint list to smartsheet. My plan is to (1) automatically add a file to sharepoint (I email attachments into Teams all the time to have files created), (2) automatically pass the attachment-file-url-link to a sharepoint list, then (3) automatically add the list row as a new smartsheet row for the rest of my desired workflow to finish. If this goes as planned then the smartsheet row would contain a cell that has the link to the files. 🤞

My workflow is different than yours in that we want the file, for other purposes, to ultimately reside in sharepoint. All I need for my smartsheet is the file link on the relevant row. If I can get this to work, would the link work for you?

Kelly

MHalvey

Hi @Kelly Moore

Thank you again for looking into this more for me. A file link might work as long as it's a new one each time. I cannot have the link get updated or the file in Sharepoint be updated. I'd need to keep each one for each month to show for auditing. I'd love to hear more about it if you end up getting it to work.

I was trying to think something down that path if Outlook could auto download attachments off Rules to OneDrive and then use a pair of Data Shuttles to upload and offload the data to a sheet as an excel file. I couldn't find a way to take the attachment on the sheet level off and move it to a specific Row in the sheet. Bridge's "Get Attachment" or "Update Row" didn't seem to do the trick. I looked through the API 2.0 page and couldn't find anything that might work either.

Again, I really appreciate the conversations and bouncing ideas off each other.

Michael

Kelly Moore

Hey @MHalvey

Yay Michael, the link idea worked for me. The Bridge routine above could kick this off for you. It's the best work-around I've been able to find.

In case you aren't familiar with Power Automate, depending on your access to Office365, you probably have access to Power Automate. This particular flow is a 'cloud flow'.

Here's the output

Let me know if you have any questions - or even better, other ideas to try. I also appreciate bouncing ideas of others.

Kelly

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