Are there alternatives to the Smartsheet conditional formatting options?

Mike S.

I have a sheet (part of a set so there will ultimately be many sheets) that will need in the neighborhood of 10,000 conditional formatting rules. Supposedly there is no limit to the rules, but I have definitely found the limit where the sheet functions well. Right now I have about 1,800 rules and when I open the conditional formatting dialogue box the sheet freezes. Then freezes multiple times throughout the process of building them.

Ultimately every project would have this sheet and then the data is collected via a report so all projects are seen together along with their conditional formats. I hate to introduce a new tool to do this, but I am at a loss for how to get the necessary formatting without doing something.

Its been a long time since I have used Smartsheet's data connector to excel, does it work with pulling data from a report? That is the best alternative I can think of at this time. Then the formatting can just be done in excel.

Thoughts?

Thank you!

Paul Newcome

None of the connectors will pull formatting. They will only pull data.

Why do you need so many conditional formatting rules?

Mike S.

@Paul Newcome, I am good with the connectors only pulling data, then I can format with excel. Can a connector pull from a report?

As for the quantity of formatting, the sheet (and resulting report) is a roadmap view of specific schedule items and each item gets its own color format. So on the final report, all jobs are listed (will be around 300). Then up to 30 items from each project are shown on that projects line according to the date. The columns represent a single day and there is 1 years worth of view on the report. So each of the 365 columns could have any of the 30 items on different rows. So on the base sheet, the conditional formatting for each item needs to live in each column. Then the report pulls them all together. I can't share the current view that lives in excel, but if I can find a way to show what I am talkin about, I will post it.