Masking certain columns to viewers

EThomasEVT

Hi all,

We have a main spreadsheet where we keep all of our projects including the budget for those projects. I would love an option where I can either share that spreadsheet, but mask certain columns or duplicate that spreadsheet, but not fill in the budget columns and then share that spreadsheet.

Is there any option like this in smartsheets? We normally have to export to Excel, reformat the data and then share, but then this spreadsheet is immediately out of date once we do an update in smartsheets that won't be reflected on the Excel spreadsheet.

Any suggestions welcome.

markkrebs

you can do this through reports and/or dynamic view. With a report which is actually a database view you can show only the columns you want. Since the report editors need access to the sheet you can use workapps if you own it to only show the report. If you dont own that just hide all the columns you dont want people to see on the sheet in case people stumble into it. If thats the path you go it is a little more maintenance and a pain to hid/ unhide so put all of those columns to the far right side of the sheet.

EThomasEVT

I tried workapps, but all the edits I did in the workapp, also showed up in the document. It is not just me in the report, so it makes it very cumbersome to our finance staff to constantly hide and unhide columns and it is difficult for me to control.

I was hoping there would be a way to mirror the smartsheet into another smartsheet, but be able to just select the first 10 columns of information in the separate smartsheet.

EThomasEVT

I have not been able to find a solution to this - although I swear in a recent call, I was not the only person asking for something like this and the speaker said that SmartSheets was working on a solution.

Does anyone have any suggestions for my question above?

Adam Murphy

DataMesh (Premium Addon) will do exactly what you are asking.

Aside from DM, wouldn't multiple reports (for different teams) work? Then you would not have to keep hiding and unhiding columns.

EThomasEVT

@Adam Murphy - if I have multiple reports, I have to continue to update both. That is why I am hoping I can find a solution where I can have my one "master" sheet, share some of the columns of information to another sheet (that if someone updates a column in that shared sheet, it also updates the master sheet), but leaves out the budget information.

How do I find information on DataMesh? Is it something through Smartsheets? We have the Enterprise account, so it might be included.

Andrée Starå

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/476546#Comment_476546

Hi,

I hope you're well and safe!

Data Mesh is a Premium App Add-on, so it's probably not included, but I recommend Dynamic View or WorkApps instead (as mentioned in the other post).

Did you test WorkApps? If it works as before, that would be the perfect solution as long as everyone has a license. The second option I'd recommend is Dynamic View.

Feel free to reach out if you'd like help adding a trial/license of any options.

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic day!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅ Did my comment(s) help/answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community and me 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! I appreciate it, thanks!

Andrée Starå

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/476546#Comment_476546

More info on DataMesh and Dynamic View.

• https://www.smartsheet.com/marketplace/premium-apps/datamesh

• https://www.smartsheet.com/marketplace/premium-apps/dynamic-view

• 
  ✅ Remember! Did my comment(s) help/answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community and me 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! I appreciate it, thanks!