External users & Free Trial Confusion

Hoping there is a clear answer to this as this continues to cause a lot of confusion and none of the SmartSheet documentation clarifies this.

Our company usage of Smartsheet is to run projects - so we provision workspaces with sheets/dashboard etc and we add the client as a Editor on the sheets so they can add rows (like on a RAID log), update a field (timeline, testing issues etc). All of these use cases do NOT require them to have a license/account/be a member as they are EXTERNAL users on our account.

However, as of late, it appears that clients are automatically forced into a free trial, and they reach out to us asking us for how to get out of it, what to do, and concerned given they are getting messages from Smartsheet telling them they will lose access.

Is there any option for clients (aka external users) to NOT be signed up for a free trial (assuming they do not accidentally create any of their own SmartSheet collateral) - and is there any documentation I can provide to clients so they are aware of this. (Note that this link only assumes they are an Internal user, not external as is the case with what we have)

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Naeem Ejaz

If you are sharing them Editor Rights then I think you have to pay for them after 90 days @Andrée Starå Am I right ?

And as far as your (aka external users) just reassure them by a simple message alert:

They will not lose access to the sheets you’ve shared with them—even after the trial ends—as long as they only use Smartsheet to view/edit your shared content.

Georgie

Hi @SSTB,

To clarify, guests are free collaborators who are external users with Editor or lower permissions. Members are paid users who can create new items in Smartsheet. More information about seat types can be found in this learning track.

The trial FAQ article you linked is relevant to external users as well as internal users, and it refers to sheets that users have created themselves during the trial period.

I agree with @Naeem Ejaz’s advice above of reassuring external users that they will not lose access to sheets they have been shared to, even after the trial ends - they would only lose access to items that they have created and owned as part of the trial account, or that other users have created as part of a trial account that has expired.

Users on trial accounts also have the option to change the owner of sheets they own before the trial ends, as noted in the FAQ article under “What happens to my sheets after my trial ends?”

Hope that helps!

Georgie

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