Blocking Actions on a Spreadsheet

Simon Barker

We use Smartsheet for our work holiday/vacation planner. We don't want holiday overlaps so I would like to make it impossible for 2 employees to select the same dates. Is there a way to block actions?

Is this something that can be done?

Thanks in advance!

L_123

You cannot block an action. You can send an email that the date is already taken, and highlight rows that conflict with each other. I am assuming you are using a standard project sheet for the tracker as that is the easiest way to do it.

To add the conflict manager you need to add a new column. It doesn't matter what the name is. Add the formula below and drag it down.

=IF(COUNT(COLLECT(Duration:Duration, Start:Start, AND(@cell <= Finish@row, @cell >= Start@row))) + COUNT(COLLECT(Duration:Duration, Finish:Finish, AND(@cell <= Finish@row, @cell >= Start@row))) > 2, "Error", "")

I recommend locking the row once you have done this. Then you create a conditional format that highlights the row if the new row contains the word error. You can also send a notification that there is a conflict in the schedule if the column changes to error. This can be sent either to you, or to all the users who have conflicts.