Disable Export of Smartsheet

YPS

Anyone can share how we can disable (or set permission) on export of smartsheet to excel...etc for data security concerns.

Thanks

Lachlan Stead

The answer on the below is still valid as far as i can see:

 

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/blocking-exporting 

J. Craig Williams

I posted the answer that Lachian referenced. It is still valid.

Here's another thing that a Viewer can do:

Save As New

Where an Export only brings over data, Save As New brings over functionality.

As a Consultant with a lot of special formulas and/or IP, this is a big problem for me. HUGE. I have had customers steal my designs after an early milestone is reached and then refuse to pay for them. 

I am (I believe) fairly generous with my IP. I post solutions on the Community. I post them to my web site: 

http://ronin-global.com/category/articles/smartsheet-help/

But when I develop something for a customer, I expect to be paid and so far, I have not found a way to both engage the customer (communication and testing) and still protect my IP until after payment. The risk is unlikely but high impact and something needs to be done about it.

In my previous life (before I became a consultant), we had one person who sabotaged the system deliberately. They were only an editor in the sheets / workspaces to which they were shared, but it was a few days to recover from the damage.

Everyone reading this should submit an enhancement request.

Craig

 

YPS

A big security concern indeed.  Thanks for sharing

YPS

Thanks Craig for the sharing.

I resonate with all your concerns exactly.  Will forward an enhancement request on this.  I have more than 10 paid users and may explore alternative due to security concerns.

David Jasven

Please this feature is critical

Nam Anh Nguyen

I completely agree with the Craig's opinion. I hope that this feature will be updated. Because any user can export file, it really will have many risks.

Saravanakumar Ramaiah

Its 2021... A security concern was reported almost 3 years ago and there seem to no concrete step towards fixing this. This brings up a questions, does Smartsheet take security seriously?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Saravanakumar Ramaiah

If you're looking to share a sheet with viewer permissions but not let users export the file, have you tried the Publish function (Read Only - HTML) instead? Keep in mind this link data can be accessed by anyone with the link, so be very careful how you share it out. (See more information in the Help Center, here.)

If you have questions about security, please see our Trust Center. You can find contact information for the Security Team from this page as well: https://www.smartsheet.com/trust/security.

Cheers,

Genevieve

Jarred Watson

What about needing people to be able to edit a sheet while also disabling their ability to export? This is a function I am currently in need of.

Wes

This really needs to be addressed to protect the IP of Smartsheet developers/consultants - encouraging everyone to vote this up!

jlarkin

This is a big security issue. Utilizing the ability in smartsheet to collaborate is critical to my way of working, but have been burned multiple times by 'viewers' exporting and reporting based on data in sheet. I am reconsidering using smartsheet as a result of this.

Christopher Kolaci

The short answer to this is that you need to use multiple sheets. I've designed sheet setups that allow 6 different types of users to interact with exclusively the data they need to. You really can add as many different roles as needed but we only needed 6 types of users. Its a bit too complicated to explain via forum but the core of it is that there is a primary sheet, an archive sheet, and 2 sheets per role for adding allocated rows to the primary and interacting with via comments and status with the other stakeholders. Everyone is to work in reports and emails/alerts are dynamically changed as peoples roles change on a separate user index.

Sorry to everyone wanting an easy solution.

S Horne

Have there been any new solutions, features or updates added that can allow the System Admin to disable the "Export a Sheet" or "Create New" from potentially compromising Data, Projects and Attachments.