Client cannot view report

TeeM

I want to share a report with a client however I cannot give them access to the source sheet as there is sensitive data that I don't want to share. 

Andrée Starå

Hi,

The options would be to publish the report or send it as a pdf or excel file.

Would that work for you?

Please see the attached link/screenshot for more information.

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/522078-publishing-smartsheet-items#publishreports

I hope this helps you!

Best,

Andrée Starå - Workflow Consultant @ Get Done

Charles DESCOTES

To use the solution mentioned by Andrée, just create a column with the name of your customer, caracterize the column with a flag on/off "Symbol".

2. Flag the rows you want to show to your customer.

3. When creating the report, you will be able to select the columns to display, and you will have the opportunity to filter the new customer column on the flag option.

(4. You can create several such columns for different reports targetting different partners.)

(personnally I would not recommend pdf because it losts a big benefit of SmSh that is to share live data. but each solution has advantages and drawbacks ;-)

TeeM

Hi,

I agree with Charles. We use an exported PDF often but in this case it is not the solution as the client needs to see live updates due to the critical timelines involved. We have already set up the report with the Information that we want to share, however, the client can't view the report. From what I understand, they cannot view a report unless they are shared to the underlying source sheet. And that is the whole issue as that is not an option.

Andrée Starå

That's correct. Your client has to be shared to the underlying sheets if you share the report but not if you publish it instead.

Best,

Andrée

TeeM

OK that helps thanks

 

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

JoeC.

TeeM, my recommendation is to copy your report and remove columns and/or filter out the sensitive rows. If you simply "Save as New..." it will copy it exactly. You would then only share this "safe" report.

While this means you may need to periodically maintain two reports, this is usually much more desirable than inadvertently sharing data that should not be.

TeeM

Hello to all you helpful people,

I am still having issues here. Now that the client can view the report, they can't comment or add attachments. What am I doing wrong?

 

Joe - just a note for you: I am not sure that I understand your suggestion. I have one source sheet that I need to share different data to different people. I need this as a master sheet. I want to share different reports to different vendors off the master source document. I don't want to be creating multiple source sheets as this defeats the whole purpose of Smartsheet. However, I do need the vendors to be able to edit information, upload new attachments and comment.

Andrée Starå

Hi again,

Unfortunately, the published report isn't editable, only viewable.

My new recommendation would be to create a new sheet with cell linking to the information that you want the vendors to be able to edit. It depends very much on the structure of your sheet and the information that the vendors need if this would work.

Would that work or is it too cumbersome?

Can you share the sheet or some screenshots because that could give some new ideas for a different solution?

Best,

Andrée

 

TeeM

Hello Andree,

It would seem that your suggestion is the only option which is disappointing.

Many thanks.

TeeM

Hmm...can you cell link attachments and comments?

Andrée Starå

Unfortunately, no. I'll let you know if I think of something else that could work.

Best,

Andrée

Eliana Davalos

Hello Andree - I have a similar situation where I was trying to create Reports for each Sales Person that would ONLY show them information on their personal sales. I cannot share my underlying sheet with all of them, as it contains different sales commissions for different Sales People levels (confidential information).

I tried creating a new sheet using the VLOOKUP function that would only return data if it was a certain Sales Person, but it only returns the 1st data set that it finds and repeats the same information on each row rather than give me a "Report" of all the rows for that particular Sales Person.

I have tried doing IF formulas referencing my underlying sheet, but me being a semi-beginner to the Smartsheet world, I couldn't get that to work, something like =IF({SalesPerson} = "Andrew Jackson", {Contract Amount}, ""), this gives me a #INVALID OPERATION.

I could also link the rows however I would like the the separate Sales People's sheet to be automatically updated as my underlying sheet grows with information in future blank rows. The underlying sheet's future blank rows will be eventually filled with all different Sales People's names and sales information. If I were to blankly link the future rows now, the individual Sales People's sheets will fill up eventually with other people's names and information.

If you have any recommendations for an automatic type of "Sheet" that could function similar to a "Report" that I COULD share with individual Sales People, please let me know :). Thank you in advance.

P.S. If you could request that Smartsheet allow this feature: that anyone that is shared a "Report" whether they are or not shared the underlying Sheet can view the Report - I believe this would be a HUGE improvement/feature! - Thanks again.