Feature Request: Live Chat

Artur Trzebunia

First, let me just say how much I'm enjoying smartsheet. I was finally able to convince my company to begin using it internally and with our clients.

 

It would be tremendously helpful to be able to chat with someone who is viewing the sheet at the same time as I am. So often I'll open a sheet and get the notification that one of my clients is also viewing the sheet, but there is no way for me to communicate with them. Having a live chat window on the far right side woud be great.

 

The discussion feature isn't quite the same as live chat. When someone else is viewing a sheet and I add a discussion to one of their tasks, nothing on the screen will tell them that I just added a discussion to a specific row. With a chat feature, I could simply say, "Hey <client>, check out the attached form in row ## I just added. I know you've been waiting for me to provide it."

 

Thanks,

Artur

Ben Paskewitz

I fully agree, this would be a great feature.

Travis

Hi Artur! That is a great suggestion and I will pass this idea along to our product team. Are you a Google user? If so, you can start a Google Hangout directly from your sheets if you are collaborating with other Google users. Here’s some information on how to do this: http://help.smartsheet.com/customer/portal/articles/522069-working-with-multiple-collaborators

Tim Kohut

This is a much needed feature.  We're trying to get out of email, and having the ability to chat informally with the team is important to us (we consider this the wave of the future).  Unfortunately, not all the teams we work with use Google for their email services, so we're hamstrung and cannot use Google Hangouts with our team.

 

We're making Smartsheet our PM "Platform".  Why not integrate some chat functionality?  Adding a discussion item, then having to email the discussion item as an extra step, then not having a copy of the email sent (unless you go back to your email to preseve a copy there) creates the need to work in two (or more platforms) if you want to preserve informal but project specific communication.

 

Please prioritize this feature!

Travis

Hi Tim, thanks for your suggestions and I am happy to hear Smartsheet is becoming an important aspect for your business! 

 

I will add your vote for in app live chat. In the meantime, have you used our discussion feature? You can have task specific (row level) or sheet level discussions through the Discussion column and Discussion tab at the bottom of your sheet. 

Rich Akers

Further vote from me. We're based in China so Google solutions don't work. A great interim workaround would be docking the discussions window on the right hand side.

 

Otherwise, loving the product!

Damian McKee

Live Chat a must

Travis

Rich and Damian, I have recorded your votes for a live chat functionality! 

Brad Jones

+1 vote for the live chat.

And please make it free.

Travis

Added your vote, Brad!

Pam Case

Please add my vote for a Chat feature, also. This feature would open doors for new uses.

 

As an example, I sometimes add a new sheet to replace FTP services for my less than tech savy customers. Everyone knows how to add an attachment!

 

I could add sheets for chatting outside my corporate wide chat network to chat with my client and use Smartsheet as a "whiteboard!" Goodbye W#@ex!

 

Hope chat becomes a priority.

Kennedy Stomps

Hi Pam-- I have added your vote!

CT

LiveChat is definitively a feature that is missing...

What are other people currently using as chat-tool?

-hipchat

-slack

-...?

 

Thanks for ideas.

Lynnette Batt

Add my vote on this. Would be SO helpful. My team is often working on the same sheet at once. It took me a year to get them using Smartsheets (a very low tech company), and asking them to use another chat program like Slack on top if it just doesn't work.

 

I love how Google docs and sheets has the built-in chat feature, and I've found that very helpful in the same way, when co-editing documents. 

Brad Jones

It's my anniversary on this discussion thread.  

Can we please have this?

Serena Williams

We’ve been using Smartsheet for a few years and love it but we are desperately trying to get out of email. We have an enterprise account and use Google hangouts. The problem is we rely heavily on chat. Small decisions are made on the fly in the middle of other chat conversations. We move fairly quickly, which leads me to search Google chat for decisions that then need to be copied into the Smartsheet row. Yet again, another step. 

 

 

 

Recently, we’ve tried using Slack because the chat feature is attached to each individual project and can be easily searched. It works well with Smartsheet but is still another program to add and search. If the discussion section is Smartsheet had the option to chat, it would save us the extra steps and the extra program. 

 

I'd love to see this addition to Smartsheet.