Character Limit - Need More Characters

KMart

Is there a way to set a particular field to accept more than 4000 characters? We use SS for managing projects and the "Notes" field we have established is where we run into issues. On occasion, we need more than 4000 characters.

J. Craig Williams

I don't mean to be snide, but how is a 4000 character note helpful?

Have you considered moving them to the Comments functionality?

Have you considered using a third party tool (like Zapier) or the API to surface the most recent comments in a one or a few columns so they are on display, but the rest are safely hidden from view?

As a PM, I don't want to have to read/skim the 3000 characters to get to the 1000 I care about. I know my previous boss would read emails if they were larger than his phone screen size (I'm not saying that is a good practice).

Craig

PhillipMO

As a PM,I find it useful to keep track of an items history (using a date stamp).  Each cell is a different Issue/action item and I've just run into this issue with the character limit.  The only way to add more text is to delete other text first.  To continue, i have to break up the item between multiple cells.  Just give me more characters!!  

Cookie72

I have the same issue. I moved from excel (250 character limit) to Smartsheet thinking it would be unlimited characters.  The cell is used to contain the history of action notes specific to a row item task.  Most tasks are closed out and hidden before reaching the 4000 limit but some are not.  I dont want another column with another cell to transfer oldest notes into. Need to keep them together to keep it simple.  Is there a way to increase the cell character limit? The comments function sounds like more of a risk in terms of accidentally loosing the data.

jiwhite

I want to use a sheet for look up for which products belong in which product category, where product category can have hundreds of products identified by a product number in a comma separated list.  I can't have a list of products with product category assigned to each product because there are more than 5000 products, which is the sheet limit for records. The 4000 character limit and the sheet record limits are problems.

Shaine Greenwood

Hi Cookie—

There isn't a way to increase the cell character limit in a cell.

I'd highly recommend using the comments column instead. You can @mention people and have more of a conversational thread of status updates. More info on comments here: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/521892-have-targeted-conversations-with-comments

I'm not exactly sure what you mean by the comments function being at risk of losing data. I actually think it would be more difficult to lose comment data. It's a lot easier to accidentally delete data in a cell versus deleting a comment.

tschmied52721

Hi,

You mentioned "...using a third party tool (like Zapier) or the API to surface the most recent comments in a one or a few columns so they are on display...". I've tried to find info on how to do that, but have not been able to find it so far.  Any chance you could point me in the right direction for some instructions?

Appreciate all your help!

Tucker Webb

This seems like a cheap workaround using comments. Comments should be used for just that, commenting and discussions, not for creating larger chunks of information that are essentially notes. You guys should have an interface like this that would allow users to take notes in a much better way.

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Mandy Maleta

I can see how the comments feature could be helpful here. I too have ran into the character limit. My issue is these comments are coming in from a form the guys in the field fill out. They type in their notes and it is loaded into the sheet. How would I have their notes go into a comment field since they are filling out a form?

Andrée Starå

Hi @Mandy Maleta

As a possible workaround, the third-party service, Zapier, could be an excellent option for this scenario.

Is that an option for you?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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KBeem

Smartsheet, please increase the character limit in fields.

Eric Dutton

Smartsheets team, bringing this back up to your inbox. Can we get an update that allows for more characters? Our business deals with many disclaimers and as you can imagine, legal jargon gets long.

Laasya

I have a formula that ~5000 characters and not fitting into a single cell due to this character limitation. i can't break it up into different columns because i can't add any more columns into this sheet.

The header of another column i'm referencing in this formula is rather long, but Smartsheet uses the whole header name in the formula instead of a column address. Unfortunately, i also can't rename the column due to internal restrictions.

What is the workaround for this? 4000 characters is really quite limited. Smartsheet team, please consider increasing this.

Andrée Starå

Hi @Laasya

I hope you're well and safe!

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment.

Here's a possible workaround or workarounds

• Add a so-called helper sheet and use cross-sheet formulas/cell-linking to calculate on the other sheet and then bring it back to the main one.

Make sense?

Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

BSADK

@Andrée Starå I'm using a formula like that and I'm finding even internal to the formula, if a string variable hits more than 4000 characters it gets cut off and not used, so I don't think that solution works unless I'm missing something.