File Library - thoughts

Before File Library, we set up our workspaces by Department - for example our Graphics and Merchandising Department work together so the folders that belong to all of Merch and all of Graphics Team are in one Work Space. Now that we have File Library, this doesn't really make sense if I want to use it for example a Library of files the Graphics Team needs as I would want it to be exclusive to them, currently using "sheet level" attachments. So it makes sense to me to move the Graphics team to their own workspace to utilize this function. But for our Merch Team, I'd love to use the File Library for Ideation, meeting prep, etc. So I need to move sections out of Merch Team Work Space so File Library would make more sense as it could easily get over filled with files that are not needed in for example the Ideation space.

My wish would be that they can be at least a folder level within a workspace. Has anyone else had these thoughts about File Library? While sharing a workspace makes sense at my work so everyone can easily be shared to anything new and if I start creating new workspaces, it might get a little confusing, not sure if it's worth it.

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Ward.Hively

Hi Kelly!

This was a tricky one but fun to explore, my recommendation is to find the best way to breakdown the Graphics and Merchandising Department into functional workspaces based on Ideation, Meeting Prep, Etc or any time there is an edge case that has a functional team assigned to it. Sometimes our OBS (Organizational Breakdown Structure or Org Chart) does not always match the way we work.

What I love about Smartsheet is that it is free to try out new workspaces meaning creating extras to expirement with your team doesnt cost anything additional. I have made a video to explain this better, I discuss it at length around the 16 minute mark which is where the link will start you.

I hope this helps! Happy Smartsheeting.

https://youtu.be/Zzi3YVRtTcw?si=pQm-b5bOkUHStnKk&t=961

Isaac A.

Hi @Kelly Kenney!

In addition to @Ward.Hively recommendation. I understand you’re looking to use File Library in a more focused way, for example keeping Graphics and Merchandising files separate without overfilling a single library. At the moment File Library doesn’t support folder-level organization, but there are tools you can use to better manage and locate files within a shared workspace.

Use tags to organize files by department or use case
Tags allow you to add searchable terms to your files so they’re easier to organize. For example, you could tag files with “Graphics,” “Merch,” or “Ideation.” This way, when team members search or filter by those tags, they’ll only see the files that apply to their department or purpose. Files can have up to 25 tags each, and you can apply them one by one or in bulk. AI-generated tags are also added automatically, which you can combine with your own.

Search, sort, and filter

Use Search in File Library to quickly find files by name, tag, or even text inside documents.
Sort files by upload date or name.
Filter files by type, tag, upload date, or orientation to narrow down results even further.

You can find more details here:

We also really appreciate your feedback about wanting folder-level management. I’d encourage you to submit this as a product idea so our Product team can review it for future improvements: Product Feedback & Ideas.

I hope this helps!

Cheers,
Isaac

Kelly Kenney

Thank Isaac, this is helpful. I do think it's worth the restructuring of the workspaces to utilize File Library. Appreciate your feedback!

Kelly Kenney

Thank you Ward! Appreciate this video response. I do think it's worth some restructuring of the workspaces to accomodate the benefits of File Library. I will work on this to make sense for our departments. :)

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