Smartsheet tabs in MS Teams

Steve_Mitchell

I've read the help articles, etc. and tried some things but I'd like to get the communities feedback on this. So to put a sheet as a tab in a Teams Channel you can either publish it and add a website tab for it or you can add the sheet directly from the tab as a Smartsheet app. Seems the biggest factor there is permissions, sharing, etc.

That aside, what are the thoughts/best practices for embedding sheets in Teams tabs? I have noticed if you add a project plan via the Smartsheet app the plan appears with no branding, etc. (preferred), but it only shows the grid view and there is no dropdown to choose a different view. If you add it as a website link, or even as a Published sheet via the app then the dropdown for view is there. Also, when you Publish via app the docs say there is a checkbox to choose full screen or not (to eliminate branding, etc.) but that checkbox doesn't seem to be there and it is always added with branding.

I'd want for the users to be able to switch views but also to eliminate the wasted space (make full screen) and neither of those options seem to be working.

How have you implemented sheets in tabs and what has your experience been?

SoS | Dan Palenchar

In my experience using a web tab is better than the native Smartsheet tab. It has been some time though since I've worked with a teams integration.

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sheetsmartsarah

Hi! I prefer using the Website tab option vs the Smartsheet app. The app requires permissions and I prefer having less barriers to access if I can help it.

I prefer to publish the sheet or dashboard. When publishing a sheet you can set a default view, but it still allows people to toggle between views.

I have a website tab for each of my team's channels via a published dashboard link. To maximize screen space, I recommend using the "Expand tab" option from the tab dropdown menu instead of maximizing the Smartsheet item itself.

Extra Step: If you want to remove a sheet's title/top bar branding, then you can click the expand button directly on the Smartsheet item in the bottom left. OR if it's a dashboard you can select "Full Screen View" from the 3-dot menu next to the title. This will take up the entire screen. Pressing ESC will take you right back to Teams.

Doing both of these will allow your team to maximize the screen within the Teams environment.

If you can't eliminate the branding, you could look into customizing them to be more purposeful than the default. I've color-coded and added a custom team logo to each of my team's workspace to keep us aware of where we're working. Brand Smartsheet with your colors and logo | Smartsheet Learning Center

Steve_Mitchell

@sheetsmartsarah, thanks for the detailed reply. What you detailed in extra step is what I want to achieve but the problem is I want the sheet to open in that view without user interaction. At the help page https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2482422-rename-modify-settings-remove-items-microsoft-teams

it talks about the option "Show in Full Tab View" which is as described above but the problem is that option doesn't seem to be there anymore.

Teams already has branding/logo so I just want as much project data as possible in the tab window, the logo bar is actually distracting and redundant. In this post (https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/92658/export-smartsheet-from-teams) @Genevieve P. even mentioned that feature as a fix but it appears to have been removed.

sheetsmartsarah

@Steve Mitchell ahhh, yeah I haven't seen a setting option to set the expanded view as default when publishing.

To achieve what you're looking for, you can use the Smartsheet tab option in Teams. Select "Don't share".

If you want people to edit in Teams, you'd select "Edit by anyone with access" (you'll have to test it, but if they're already shared to the sheet they should be able to edit within Teams).

This will remove all the headers as shown in the bottom screenshot.

Steve_Mitchell

@sheetsmartsarah Yes, thank you but you will notice as I mentioned in my original post you then lose the ability to change views. It locks you into Grid view only. You can see that in the image you posted as well... So right now it's either use the app to gain full view but you lose the ability to switch views (as well as some empty space at the bottom), or publish and lose the ability to remove the header/logo. I opened a support case for Smartsheet to comment - if for no other reason for them to update the docs that say full view is possible.