New Slack Integration: Send notifications to a Slack channel

Shaine Greenwood

You can now notify a Slack channel on sheet changes! Configure this from Alerts & Actions in the menu bar.

More information on the Slack integration:

• Apps & Integrations Page
• Help Article

Stevie Goodwin

Could someone explain what this update does and how it can be used in practice. I have read the article attached but still do not quite understand its value, and how it can be used effectively. 

 

Thanks

 

Steve 

bricin2

Hi Team 

First, thanks for adding this integration.

That said - should we use this thread or elsewhere to make suggestions for improvements? As-is the notification, e.g. "6 rows changed" isn't super useful since a) I don't know which ones changed and b) I cannot really act on them or know if I care to click through or not.

Contrast this to many integrations from Jira for example - I can assign items, change dates, add notes, etc. all from within Slack.

Thanks and looking forward to seeing more over time.

Shaine Greenwood

Hello,

The best channel for feedback is the Product Enhancement Request form under Quick links on the right of the community site.

This takes your feedback straight to our Product team and gives them a way to reach out to you directly, if needed.

Shaine Greenwood

Hi Stevie,

If your team uses Slack to communicate while tracking and executing work through Smartsheet, you can have Smartsheet send notifications to a Slack channel directly when something in your sheet has been updated.

I think that our blog article details the benefits of this: https://www.smartsheet.com/blog/new-smartsheet-for-slack-gives-real-time-visibility-into-rapidly-changing-work

Chris McKay

Hi Shaine,

Based on the time I've spent playing around with the Slack integration and the comments on here, it looks as though practically every suggestion or item of feedback gathered in the Smartsheet initiated feedback thread (from August 2016) was summarily ignored:

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/slacksmartsheet-integration

bricin2 hit the nail on the head. What use is it knowing that 6 sheets were changed? I don't know who changed them, what they changed and I don't have direct access to change them (via a hyperlink). It's reasonable to assume that if an organisation is using Slack to manage information workflows and collaboration, that they have enough going on that there will be loads of Smartsheet changes. Slack/JIRA do the integration well enough. Look for inspiration there.

Kind regards,

Chris McKay

Ken LeCompte

I would say another major issue is that the Slack integration does not work with templates. I was excited to see the Slack integration only to be frustrated by the need to reconfigure the notifications all over again for every sheet generated from a template.

Thank you.



Ken LeCompte

Corban Wells

So according to the announcement, I can configure Update Requests in Smartsheet to go to a particular Slack Channel.  Well, I've been digging in Smartsheet for about an hour now, and that doesn't seem to be possible.  I can't figure out how to send Update or Approval requests through this integration.  I have successfully sent an alert, but not an update or approval request.  Frustrating.

Shaine Greenwood

Hi Corban,

The Slack integration from this announcement was specifically to send notifications to a channel, not update or approval requests.

With that being said, we just released an update to the integration for you to receive all of your alerts and requests as direct messages to you in Slack. Details on how you can enable this are available here: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2476711-smartsheet-slack-notification#directmessage

You can authenticate with the bot to receive all alerts and requests as direct messages. Note that other people will need to go through the same steps from the help article to configure their own accounts to receive alerts and requests in slack DMs.

revaro80381

Hi Shaine, 

If my team has access to Slack but they do not have a Smartsheet account, am I able to send update request to them via Slack? Is it necessary for them to have a Smartsheet account? I know I can provide access for them to view the Smartsheet and request updates via email but, is this viable option for Slack? 

Thank you, 

Renae

Shaine Greenwood

Hi Renae—

They don't need to have a Smartsheet account to receive alerts or requests but you may need to adjust your account- or sheet-level alert permissions settings before they can receive them. More info on this here: https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2476586-control-who-is-notified-about-alerts-and-requests

Nadia38

I've just started integrating SS with Slack - I understand it needs to receive information from our Slack channels to function (channel name etc.)

But why does smartsheet need to see the channel purpose and latest message in a channel?

What purpose does it serve?

Nadia38

Does anyone know the answer to this post above?

Jeff Casto

Hello,

I am trying to add a Slack channel to my Smartsheet automation and I can't get Smartsheet to find the channel. I reviewed the instructions below, but the instructions aren't very clear.

I went to the Slack channel and typed @Smartsheet. Nothing happened in Smartsheet. I still can't see the channel. By the way, where do I type @Smartsheet? I typed it everywhere there was the ability to type something.

Additional info:

I can see a couple Slack channels, just not the channels I want to use for the alerts.

I already clicked and added the "add to slack" button

The Smartsheet app was added to Slack

When I tried to add Smartsheet as a memeber to the channel, Smartsheet could not be found (I tried Smartsheet, @Smartsheet, @smartsheet)

Thanks for any help!

Jeff Casto

Oh! Also, I clicked on the Smartsheet bot and "allowed access" and it looks like I'm "all set up".

Ok, thanks again for any help!

Jeff Casto

Hi again! Can anyone advise on the aforementioned perhaps? Many thanks! Maybe @Genevieve P. (Sorry to bother you Genevieve!)