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Approval Request Automation: Need User to Fill Out Fields

Rossana

Hello,

I'm trying to create an Approval Request automation, but I need the following actions:

When approved: for user to type out their name
When declined: for used to type out a reason

I'm able to select the columns I want the information to be populated in on the automation, but it shows an error message.

Is there no way for the person approving/denying to fill out these fields?

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Enhancement Request

Accepted answers

LeelaLodhi03

You’re seeing the error because Approval workflows don’t support users typing values into fields—only predefined values can be set.

There are two ways to handle this:

Approval + Update Request
Use Approval for the decision (Approve/Decline), then trigger an Update Request to capture Name or Reason.
Note: this will send two notifications.
Update Request only
Send a single Update Request with fields like Status (Approved/Declined), Name, and Reason.
This avoids multiple notifications but requires users to select the status manually instead of using approval buttons.

All comments

Rossana

A bit more information: currently there are over 25 people who will be approving/denying the requests.

Marie Gladys Rosales

This is a common limitation with Smartsheet approvals 😊

Approval Requests can’t ask approvers to type free‑text (like their name or a decline reason) at the moment they approve/decline. The Change cell value action only accepts a fixed value, which is why you’re getting that error.

Best workaround: pair the approval with an Update Request.

Simple flow:

Row submitted   
↓
Approval Request   
↓
If Approved → Auto-fill status / Approved By
If Declined → Send Update Request (ask for reason)

Other options:

Use Approved By / Approved Date system columns instead of manual name entry
Ask users to add a comment when declining
Use a form if decision + input need to happen together

Hope that helps!

Rossana

Hi Marie!

Thank you for the reply.

I don't see an Approved By system column. The closest thing I see is the Modified By column, but I can't use that to identify approvals. There are two approval steps in this process, so the Modified By column would only reflect the person who submitted the approval for a short period of time.

Is there a way to copy over the data in the Modified By column to different column once the Approval goes through? I can't use =[Modified By]@row because it would reflect the last person to modify the cell. I would need a way to copy the data to another cell once the Approval automation is triggered. Is that possible?

LeelaLodhi03

You’re seeing the error because Approval workflows don’t support users typing values into fields—only predefined values can be set.

There are two ways to handle this:

Approval + Update Request
Use Approval for the decision (Approve/Decline), then trigger an Update Request to capture Name or Reason.
Note: this will send two notifications.
Update Request only
Send a single Update Request with fields like Status (Approved/Declined), Name, and Reason.
This avoids multiple notifications but requires users to select the status manually instead of using approval buttons.

Rossana

I reworked the sheet to send Update Requests instead of Approval Requests. Worked like a charm. Thanks all!

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