Why did the format change on automated alert notifications?

Nomland
Nomland ✭✭✭
edited 10/22/24 in Smartsheet Basics

Wondering if you could help me regarding the automation alerts based on changes to a sheet.  They changed.  The format was “normal” and worked yesterday.  Today the alert is asking recipients to “Open in Smartsheet”.  Can we change this back?  My inbox is filling up with people clicking it and requesting access they shouldn't have to the sheet, not to mention it takes up a lot of real estate in the email.

Is there an option to go back to the original format of these automated alert notifications?

left sample is the new format, right sample is the old format i want to switch back to.

Best Answers

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Answers

  • Jason P
    Jason P ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hi @Nomland

    By chance, did the recipient have a filer applied on the sheet the notification came from? Found this from some time ago.

    Cheers.

  • C. Peter Datz
    C. Peter Datz ✭✭✭✭

    I've been informed by our TAM that Smartsheet Product Management is working on a solution… fingers crossed!

  • Genevieve P.
    Genevieve P. Employee
    Answer ✓

    Hi all,

    I just wanted to jump in here and clarify that there was indeed a change to the format of automated alerts when you noticed it! This is to align with the same visualizations and formatting as our other automated emails.

    I believe there will be an announcement post or release note about this once a few tweaks have been made, thank you for your patience.

    @Jason P notifications go out through the Release News page (that you can subscribe to) or, depending on the change, announced here in the Community from this category. 🙂

    For the Sheet Link, this URL is included in alerts if you are sending row information along with the alert. You can remove this by sending a Message Only type of alert, see this Help Article: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2479256-customize-the-content-of-your-alerts-and-requests#toc-select-what-s-included-in-an-alert-or-request-

    Please feel free to provide your feedback regarding sheet links in this related Product Idea: Option to Not Include Sheet Link on Notifications

    Cheers,
    Genevieve

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  • Nomland
    Nomland ✭✭✭

    @Genevieve P.

    So are you saying there is no going back or option for this new format? what about all the extra requests to share sheet that we weren't getting before this update. all of my alerts are set up to show the link - it has was replaced by the big blue box outlining and repeating the subject line of the alert and now highlights open in smartsheet button as if that's what I want them to do, when in reality it is the exact opposite of what i want them them to do. In my opinion this change was not very well thought out and needs A LOT of tweaks before it should've been put into production. this new alert style or format wastes a lot of real estate and is causing confusion. is this community forum the only recourse we can take to vote AGAINST this change? Will SS at least consider making this optional for those of us that don't want our alerts updating to this format?

  • Kariv
    Kariv ✭✭✭

    Agreeing with the comments above. The new format change takes up a lot of unnecessary real estate, and it no longer contains the name of the sheet it is referencing. I have several execs that like to receive these summaries of sheet changes to quickly get an update on project status, but if they can't easily determine what project it relates to without clicking into the Smartsheet, then the automated notifications are of no use to them.

  • I agree with this post. This notification should stay as it was. I've received way too many unwanted notifications for people trying to get access to the sheet.

  • Agreeing with all of the above. This has added in a large portion of unnecessary space that serves no purpose. There is no added benefit to that box information wise. Also, the amount of users that previously had no access to an actual Smartsheet and only a Smartsheet Form are now wanting to gain access. This put the owners of the sheets in a position to explain why they are not allowed access and is also creating an excessive amount of unnecessary work. It would be great to have this reverted back to the original state or at least have a way to disable this for the many users that do not want this function added to their sheets.

  • I agree. Please revert back to the original notification way.

  • I have to agree with the above comments regarding the change in the notification format. This was not a welcome change that removed useful sheet information and replaced it with an empty shaded area and an Open in Smartsheet button. I've already been asked by department managers who already receive a great deal of email messages to make changes so they don't have to scroll to find out information that was previously there.