Update Request Forms - required fields

B Young

How can I customise an update request in a workflow, so that the updater has fields that are required to be updated before submitted the update?

B Young

I really appreciate your help on this - and I was hoping that I wouldn't have to use forms and create a new row, but it may be the way to go. But I'm also going to investigate dynamic view I'm not familiar with it, but look forward to learning about this. Thank you!

Brian_Richardson

I wouldn't go down the road of creating new rows via forms every time you want and update, that gets messy fast. Dynamic View should help you out, or the "nag" method of emailing people into submission.

Brian_Richardson

In the "Request an Update" action step, click the Customize Message link about halfway down the step. This will open the ability to customize the subject, body, and then select "Specific fields" to select the fields that you want to show. Only those fields will be presented for update.

If you want some fields to show up in the request but not be editable, lock those columns.

B Young

Thank you @Brian_Richardson this is helpful. Am I right in thinking the updater may still be able to submit the update without the fields having details entered into it? What we are trying to achieve is stopping someone updating the request without filling in or updating details. It would be good if this would not be able to be updated without the fields being completed.

Brian_Richardson

There's not a way in Smartsheet to require a cell be filled out, except in two places: Dynamic View and Forms.

If you want to stick with Update Requests then yes, you cannot require them to fill in items. However you can nag them into it :-) by setting up a formula column that looks for cells to be filled out and checks itself if they are not. Then setup an Update Request to mail to the person anytime the row changes and the checkbox is still checked.

Or you can setup a Dynamic View that presents the rows to them based on a filter or based on their name in a contact column. They make their updates in a form-like view in Dynamic View, and you can control that form layout and make certain fields required or read only.

You can do the same on Forms, but Forms only capture new data onto rows, you cannot edit existing data with Forms. However, if you are sourcing this information from people you might consider making the fields required and push them through a form to add their information to start with, thereby guaranteeing you get the info you need.

B Young

I really appreciate your help on this - and I was hoping that I wouldn't have to use forms and create a new row, but it may be the way to go. But I'm also going to investigate dynamic view I'm not familiar with it, but look forward to learning about this. Thank you!

Brian_Richardson

I wouldn't go down the road of creating new rows via forms every time you want and update, that gets messy fast. Dynamic View should help you out, or the "nag" method of emailing people into submission.