Allowing View / Access Of Certain Data To Other Users

lloyd

Hi, I'm currently creating a sheet with numerous tasks that will be 'Assigned To' other Users.  I would like to have the other users only see and edit their tasks, and not have any access to the other Users' tasks.  Is this possible?  Thank you, Lloyd

Mike L.

Yes, create a report for the users.  In the report builder you under "Who" you can set the field "Assigned To" = a specific user name.  Alternatively you can set "Assigned To" = Current user.  This will allow you to reuse the same report for each user.  Each user will be able to see only their tasks. 

Your tasks are entered into the smartsheet grid. Your users will work from a smartsheet report seeing only what's assigned to them. 

disclaimer: I'm relatively new to smartsheets but this is what I'm doing. 

Andrée Starå

Hi Lloyd and Mike,

A cautious note.

The user must be shared to the sheet(s) to be able to see the sheets information on the report. This means that the user can potentially open the sheet(s) and see other information. The viewers of the report can only see what is shared to them.

I hope this helps you!

Best,

Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant @ Get Done

 

lloyd

Thank you Mike.

lloyd

Hi Andrée,

Thanks for your response.  Allowing other users to see the source sheet creates a problem in this scenario.  Will keep looking for a solution.

Thanks,

Lloyd

Mike Wilday

You could manage each user's tasks in a separate sheet and then create a report that would allow you to see all users' tasks in one report. Would that work?

lloyd

Hi Mike, thanks for your response.  I could see how your solution could work, but I'm designing a full project plan ("Primary Sheet") with related / dependent tasks and then I would assign to different people.  I was hoping that: a) the user only sees their tasks, and b) the users' updates flow into the Primary Sheet.  Thanks, Lloyd

Mike Wilday

Yeah, that makes sense. This is one item in the application that is a little frustrating. There are a lot of reasons why giving report users access to the original sheet doesn't make sense. You don't want users to see other users' data. 

A couple of workarounds that other users have implemented is burying the sheet deep within a nested subset of folders with odd naming to prevent users from stumbling onto the original dataset. Doing this would involve also providing access to the original sheet but not notifying them that they have it. I haven't personally tested this functionality, but I imagine it could help prohibit access.

I've also seen use-cases where a default filter is put on a sheet so when it is loaded it automatically filters data by the Current User. That way if someone does stumble on the original sheet the filter is another safety mechanism.

Not sure if any of those solutions help, but maybe so. Best of luck! 

lloyd

Thanks very much for the suggested options!

Mike Wilday

You're welcome. Hopefully, some of them will help you find a workable solution for Smartsheets. 

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!