Limiting responses in Smartsheet forms?

dmartin

Working in education here and I'm part of a team attempting to schedule volunteer positions for an event that staff must mandatorily be part of. We have a list of positions that need filled, and Smartsheet is going to be great for managing the workflow once they are assigned... However, in Smartsheet forms, I can't find a way to limit each type of response in a particular question to a specific number. For instance, if I use a dropdown to give volunteers the option to help check tickets or direct people across campus, I can't find a way to tell the question that we only need 3 people in each of those positions. So if I send out the volunteer forms and everybody chooses to check tickets, we won't have the other spot filled because the form wasn't able to note that the number of spots for a particular position (or answer to the dropdown) was filled.

Is there an add-on or workaround that could work for this?

Andrée Starå

Hi @dmartin

I hope you're well and safe!

• You could have the Premium App, Data Shuttle, update the Dropdown whenever somebody selects an option.
• Another option could be to have a sheet/report showing what's left on one side and the form on the other in a Dashboard.

Would any of those options work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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dmartin

@Andrée Starå Is there a place that could walk me through this process? I looked at Data Shuttle and that updating dropboxes option, I even read the workflow information about uploading data to Data Shuttle, but I'm not clear on how this is supposed to work. Is there a place that can show me?

Genevieve P.

Hi @dmartin

Currently Smartsheet forms cannot remove options as they're selected. Data Shuttle can update dropdowns, but the process would take some time to complete (a few minutes perhaps) so if you had multiple people filling the same form URL out within the same timeframe then it would show all the options.

I would personally suggest that instead of using a Form, you could set up a "sheet" as a sign up sheet. With Editor permissions (or even just a Published sheet that allows editor access) they could assign themselves on a row with a specific position.

Then you could have an automation lock that row once it has been filled in, so no one else can add their name to that space. Think of it like a piece of paper with all the positions listed and they sign next to the one they want.

If you need additional data, you could always have them fill in a form that goes to a different sheet first, then have the form re-load to show the "sign up sheet". Does that make sense?

Cheers,

Genevieve