Notes Section for Rich Text Documents (Similar to Attachments)

Tim Starkey

Request: Add the ability to create editable rich text documents that are linked at the row or sheet level. Allow ability to have more than one document per row. Ability to track changes and lock the document from editing. Access would be similar to how conversations and attachments work:

TL;DR: Sometimes information needs to be associated with a task, projects, etc, and plain text in a cell just doesn't cut it. It would open up so many opportunities to have editable rich text documents associated with rows or sheets.

Use Case 1 - Meeting Notes: We usually have Smartsheet open in our project meetings to review with clients. Sections in our work plan are associated with project meetings. Rather than have a word document on the network that later gets linked (or usually not), this would allow the team to take meeting notes directly in a document that is linked with that row for easy recall. Having others contribute during after meeting a bonus. Ability to lock from edits shortly after meeting important. (This functionality is similar to meeting notes in Zoom or Teams)

Use Case 2 - Document / Information Management: At project close out, we have a task to determine if a project is 'marketing worthy', and if so, there are steps to follow to create write ups and obtain project photos. The write ups are to be done by the managers involved (SME's) with the project. This works by automation in the original project sheet generating a row in our "marketing portfolio" sheet, and assigning the manager. There are columns that track fees, client, dates, and other project metrics that work nicely in cells. But asking them to write a narrative of the project in the cell is like asking someone to write a letter in excel instead of word.

Competitive Analysis: Before we settled on Smartsheet, we reviewed competitor offerings, and strongly considered Click-up. One of the well loved features was having a 'notes' tab associated with projects. Other platforms we reviewed had similar features (Redbooth)

Comments: I am aware we can link word docs to onedrive and get a similar result. However, in my experience, it is neither fluid nor stable due to issues with permissions. Also, the document needs to be generated outside smartsheet and linked prior.

Related ideas: I did search to find related ideas. Clearly there are others out there looking for editable text, rich documentation, inside of smartsheet. See below. Although candidly I am surprised some do not have more votes :(

However, even if those other ideas were implemented, I would still like to see this idea as separate. (ie - don't close this out just because I link similar ideas :)

Add collaboration functionality to allow multiple people edit word docs in smart sheets — Smartsheet Community

Edit attachments — Smartsheet Community

and of course

Rich Text formatting in cells - Page 3 — Smartsheet Community

Thanks!

Tim

Tim Starkey

Ha... even more problems it would solve for me.

Use case 3: live checklists... some tasks may require instructions or "checklists". The ability to have an editable checklist within the task would be a nice bonus.