Can Dynamic View control access via User Group instead of a Contact List email?

Jeff Thomas

Are there any workarounds to using the Dynamic View functionality, but by using a Group vs individual email?

Gillian C

Hi Jeff,

So there are lots of ways you can use Dynamic Views to only gather/provide information to specific people. I'll list a few of the ways that I have used it to give you some examples.

1 - If you have a Dynamic View set up that you want everyone to be able to use within a certain group, then you create the Dynamic View and share it to the Group via the Sharing Settings highlighted below.

2 - If you want this same Dynamic View to be able to be viewed by anyone in your group, but only when they have specific tasks assigned to them, then you would share the Dynamic View as above but then in the General tab of the Settings 'Restrict the view by current user' (see screengrab below) and then select the column from the drop down that contains the users for the assigned tasks.

3 - You can also do the same as above but restrict the viewing by Sheet filter instead. This example could be your sheet contains all the projects for your company, but you only want Project A to be visible to Group A, and Project B to be visible to Group B. In this case you would create your different User Groups, create a Dynamic View and share to Group A (as in 1 above). Create a Filter ('Project A Filter') in your sheet to only display Project A and then select 'Project A Filter' in the 'Restrict view by sheet filter' (also visible in the screengrab from 2 above)

4 - You can also create Dynamic Views from Reports rather than sheets but it works in a similar way. Although if you have contacts in multiple columns and want to restrict the same Dynamic View by multiple columns this is where you would use a Report. Basically creating the Report with the columns you require from your sheet and then create a filter pulling in the required contact columns and using the option 'has any of' 'Current User' in the filter.

Hopefully helpful, and not too much detail!

Gillian C

I wrote an answer then re-read the question. Do you mean can you share a Dynamic View to a group rather than a list of individuals? ...To save entering a whole list of individual emails? Or do you mean can you add a group to a column within a sheet to enable the Dynamic View for that group of individuals in the cell?

Jeff Thomas

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/428985#Comment_428985

Hi Gillian, yes from my limited research of Dynamic View (I have zero experience with Dynamic View), it appears the DV functionality is based upon individual emails from a Contact List column type. The goal I have is to use a DV to limit access based on a Group and not individual.

Example: Enabling visibility to specific Design Firms (Groups), and not individuals within those firms. This would eliminate the challenges of dealing with staffing changes and adding/removing emails from a large group of projects.

Gillian C

Hi Jeff,

So there are lots of ways you can use Dynamic Views to only gather/provide information to specific people. I'll list a few of the ways that I have used it to give you some examples.

1 - If you have a Dynamic View set up that you want everyone to be able to use within a certain group, then you create the Dynamic View and share it to the Group via the Sharing Settings highlighted below.

2 - If you want this same Dynamic View to be able to be viewed by anyone in your group, but only when they have specific tasks assigned to them, then you would share the Dynamic View as above but then in the General tab of the Settings 'Restrict the view by current user' (see screengrab below) and then select the column from the drop down that contains the users for the assigned tasks.

3 - You can also do the same as above but restrict the viewing by Sheet filter instead. This example could be your sheet contains all the projects for your company, but you only want Project A to be visible to Group A, and Project B to be visible to Group B. In this case you would create your different User Groups, create a Dynamic View and share to Group A (as in 1 above). Create a Filter ('Project A Filter') in your sheet to only display Project A and then select 'Project A Filter' in the 'Restrict view by sheet filter' (also visible in the screengrab from 2 above)

4 - You can also create Dynamic Views from Reports rather than sheets but it works in a similar way. Although if you have contacts in multiple columns and want to restrict the same Dynamic View by multiple columns this is where you would use a Report. Basically creating the Report with the columns you require from your sheet and then create a filter pulling in the required contact columns and using the option 'has any of' 'Current User' in the filter.

Hopefully helpful, and not too much detail!

Jeff Thomas

@Gillian C You are an absolute Saint! Thank you so much for this information, your thorough detail is a tremendous help.