Requesting Attachments via Update Requests Without Exposing Other Attachments

BB2791

Hello,

I'm interested in being able to send an update request to non-Smartsheet users outside of my organization asking for a document to be uploaded. My dilemma is that the update request exposes attachments already attached to the row. Is there a way to configure it so that doesn't happen?

If that's not possible perhaps someone here can suggest an alternative solution. My use case is that I have a digital application form in Smartsheet. When an application is submitted I want to trigger 3 emails to solicit letters of recommendation from people other than the applicant. I was hoping to use update requests to do this so the 3 letters are routed back to the same row as the application thereby creating a complete file for the applicant without me needing to do any manipulation. It's not feasible though if I have to expose other attachments when I send the update request.

Any suggestions would be much appreciated!

Brian_Richardson

Update requests include all attachments, there's not a way to limit that unfortunately. There's also no real functionality to move attachments between rows.

One thing you could do is leverage hierarchy. So, when you have a new application submitted, create 3 child rows under that submission row. Using the PARENT function you can bring information from the parent row down onto the child rows. Each child row would have 1 of the reference emails on it. Then, trigger Update Requests for the child rows to send Update requests with the application information, but without showing attachments.

This will get you attachments on each child row. There's not a way to automatically move attachments between rows, but at least you'll have a hierarchical view that you can quickly click through to see related attachments.

@Paul Newcome has an article on automatically creating parent-child sets in a new sheet, when someone submits an application. If you want to automate the creation of the children.

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/108432/auto-create-child-rows-without-bridge-or-api

BB2791

Hi @Brian_Richardson

Thanks for your reply. It's unfortunate that the update requests can't provide a solution here. It would have been so nice and simple. I was hoping to get away with having to create child rows. The person I'm handing this project off to is very limited in her technical ability so simpler is better. I'll take a look at the article on creating parent-child sets. I think I used that solution for another project I worked on.

I appreciate your time!

Brian_Richardson

sure thing. One other thought would be, can you adjust your process so that the update requests are sent before you attach other supporting documentation to the row?

If your applicant is submitting those attachments that you don’t want to share, you could instead have them submit an initial application without attachments, trigger the reference update requests (which will have no attachments), have those update requests check a checkbox when they run, then trigger an update request back to your applicant when the checkbox is checked, asking them to attach their supporting documentation.

BB2791

Hi @Brian_Richardson. At first I was thinking this might work but I think either way in terms of the order we'll hit a snag using the update requests. If we receive the application and send the 1st update request to those "recommenders" who will be submitting letters for the applicant this will avoid exposing the application document but then if I want to send a second update request to the applicant requesting them to upload their transcripts etc that will expose the letters of recommendation. Unless I'm misunderstanding the logic, I don't think there's a way to collect the attachments with update requests due to privacy concerns.

Brian_Richardson

Yes, sure sounds like it. To ensure separation you're going to need to separate the attachments on different rows.

Another possibility would be two sheets. One sheet is your application. When an application comes in as a row add, it triggers a row copy automation to a second sheet. If you need three separate references, it's three automations.

You'll still need to have the applicant's attachment captured after the row copies, because they will copy attachments that exist. But if you copy the row first, then from that point you have separation of application documents and reference documents…complete separation that won't collide for future requests.

To put it back together, setup a report that looks at both sheets and group by applicant name or some other consistent piece of information. Then you'll have all relevant rows lumped together and can easily open each attachment as needed…they will still be all separated from each other.

BB2791

Thanks @Brian_Richardson! This is an interesting solution if I still want to use the update requests. It might not be worth the complexity at this point but I'll run it by the team. Appreciate you thinking it through and providing these options. I did not think of this!

BB2791