Email address validation

ericazta33

We are sharing a Smartsheet with users across our company and are requesting that those users contribute different data on the Smartsheet. We have noticed that many have not responded and wondered if there was a way to confirm that a particular email is still valid? Is there a notification or something else similar to what you would get in Outlook if you sent an email to someone that was no longer with the company and the email address is no longer valid?

Andrée Starå

Hi @ericazta33

I hope you're well and safe!

Unfortunately, having Smartsheet let you know if an email isn't valid is impossible now, but it's an excellent idea!

Please submit this as a Product Feedback or Idea (If it hasn't been added already) when you have a moment.

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Bassam Khalil

Hi @ericazta33,

In Smartsheet, when you share a sheet with users and require them to contribute data, ensuring that the email addresses of those users are valid is crucial for effective collaboration. However, Smartsheet itself does not directly verify the validity of email addresses or provide notifications similar to the non-delivery reports (NDRs) or bounce-back emails you might receive in email services like Outlook when an email is sent to an invalid address.

Here are some strategies you can use within Smartsheet and its ecosystem to address this challenge:

1. Automated Alerts & Reminders:
   • You can set up automated alerts and reminders in Smartsheet to notify users about the tasks or contributions they need to make. If an email is invalid, Smartsheet won't explicitly notify you that the email failed, but you can infer issues if users report not receiving expected communications.
   • Regularly review the "Sent" log of automated workflows (accessible to sheet owners and admins) to check if there are any issues noted with specific notifications, although this won't directly highlight invalid emails.
2. Update Requests:
   • Sending update requests is another way to engage users. If users do not receive or respond to these requests, it might indicate an issue with their email address. This method also does not directly confirm the validity of an email address but can help identify non-responsive users for further investigation.
3. User Management for Licensed Accounts:
   • If you are using Smartsheet within a licensed organization, administrators can monitor users' activity levels and account statuses through the Admin Center. While this doesn't validate external email addresses, it can help manage and review the status of internal users.
4. External Email Verification Tools:
   • For directly verifying the validity of an email address, consider using external email verification services. These tools can check if an email address is valid before you add or engage with it in Smartsheet. This step requires an additional process outside Smartsheet but can be crucial for cleaning your contact list.
5. Feedback Loop:
   • Encourage feedback from your team or users about the communication process. If someone notices they're not receiving expected emails or updates, it might be due to an invalid email address or filtering by their email service.
6. Smartsheet Connectors and API:
   • While Smartsheet’s API and connectors, such as those for data integration with other services (e.g., Salesforce, Microsoft Dynamics), do not inherently verify email validity, they can be used to synchronize user data across platforms. Ensure that the email addresses stored in other systems are valid and up to date, which can then be reflected in your Smartsheet contacts when synced.

If you're experiencing a significant issue with invalid email addresses and non-responsiveness, you might need to adopt a more manual or semi-automated approach to validate emails before or after adding them to your Smartsheet. Regularly updating and validating your email lists outside of Smartsheet can help minimize these issues.

Andrée Starå

Hi @ericazta33

I hope you're well and safe!

Unfortunately, having Smartsheet let you know if an email isn't valid is impossible now, but it's an excellent idea!

Please submit this as a Product Feedback or Idea (If it hasn't been added already) when you have a moment.

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up, Awesome, or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Don12345

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/420026#Comment_420026

How do you access "the "Sent" log of automated workflows (accessible to sheet owners and admins) "?

Thanks.

Bassam Khalil

Hi @Don12345 am sorry you can only check the history of modification of the automation from the activity log of your sheet