Sharing worksheets for View-Only

DavidTymm

I have a single Pro licence and need to send URL's to various colleagues so they can view current status of project. No editing permissions are needed for these users. Am I right in thinking I should be able to do this? Everybody I have sent the link to says they are being asked to register to a free trial (not what they want nor what is needed...) Only one person is able to access and that is someone who was formerly a licenced user. Can anyone help?

Razetto

@DavidTymm I recommend looking into publishing the sheet or report. Hope it helps

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/522078-publishing-smartsheet-items

DavidTymm

Thanks Razetto - This seems to be duplicate functionality to the Share function but gave it a go. The site told me I needed to upgrade my plan from a monthly to annual payment, which I reluctantly did. I then tried to publish and was told again, I needed to upgrade my plan. This time to an Enterprise level plan. Is it just me that finds Smartsheet policies and functionality, utterly baffling! This is clearly a technical/account permissions problem, but I cannot find any channel to support from Smartsheet. Do you know of one?

Genevieve P.

Hi @DavidTymm

I'm happy to help clarify here!

On a Pro Plan, you can share sheets with up to 10 collaborators in a view-only state. However when you share a sheet directly, those users also need to have a Smartsheet login/email to then view the sheet securely. These can be free accounts or they can create a trial if they'd like, but they need to log in to see your sheet. (Here's more information: Share a Smartsheet item)

Publishing is a different feature - this creates a public URL that you can share out like a website to allow anyone to view content, without logging in. Publishing is a feature available on Business or Enterprise plans (see the "Plan" section of the article above) so since you're on a Pro plan this won't be available unless you upgrade to a different plan.

The Smartsheet Pricing page has a breakdown of functionality per-plan under the "Complete Features List" button that may be helpful:

https://www.smartsheet.com/pricing

Cheers,

Genevieve

DavidTymm

Thanks Genevieve

It is becoming clearer...

So: assuming all the people who I want to see my worksheets create a free account, then they will be able to view my worksheets. Is this correct?

Also, can they create an account without signing up for a free trial?

Regards

David

Genevieve P.

Hi @DavidTymm

1. Yes! Exactly. They just need a Smartsheet login of any type to view your sheet, since it has been shared inside of the Smartsheet application. Keep in mind that if you need them to Edit content, since you're on a Pro plan they would need a license within your specific plan to change cell data. (Business plans can enable free users to edit content.)
2. If you have shared them to a sheet, these users should see an email inviting them to set a password for their new account to be able to view the sheet within Smartsheet. Once they've created a password, I believe they can skip right to a Free account instead of choosing to start a Trial... however if you don't see that option, then they can cancel it and switch to free at any time (see: Cancel and switch to free)

This is an article that may be helpful to send your collaborators:

https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/free-users/get-started-free-user

Cheers,

Genevieve

Robert Oto

In the business plan, if users are using a free view only seat, would they be able to filter columns to see rows/tasks assigned to them? They wouldn't be editing, just modifying their view to see what's relevant to them.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Robert Oto

Yes 🙂

Here's a chart that may help you when determining what a free user can do:
https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2483288/sharing-permission-levels

Cheers,
Genevieve