Custom Report Format Possible?

I need to be able to generate a simple format based on the data that exist in smartsheets. I store information such as news updates and I would like to be able to create a report that generates the text formatted in a specific way.

For instance if I have the columns and 3 rows.

Publish Date
Category
Title
Body Text

I'd like to be able to generate the output so it looks like the following. Is it possible to export this kind of format directly from smartsheets?

If not possible are there 3rd party integrations/tools that would allow me to do this? Right now the only way I can think of it is to export it to excel then run a macro that creates a word doc or txt file.

Any help would be appreciated!

1/1/2018 - Music

Article 01 Title

Body text goes here. this is where all the text goes for the article

2/1/2018 - Art

Article 02 Title

Body text goes here. this is where all the text goes for the article

3/1/2018 - Animals

Article 03 Title

Bod text goes here. this is where all the text goes for the article

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Comments

Andrée Starå

Hi Mike,

There are several ways to do this. To give you the best advice I have a few questions.

How many different news updates per report and how often do you need to create the report?
Do you input the information manually in the sheet? (No forms)
Is it a running list or is a new sheet per month or similar?
Do you have any screenshots or sheets/documents that you are using today that you could share?

Please see the attached link/screenshot for more information.

Some of the solutions that I have in mind: Google Sheet, Google Doc (Smartsheet Merge), DocuSign, WebMerge and Zapier (or another similar service).

I hope this helps you!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting

MikeLord

How many different news updates per report and how often do you need to create the report?

It is a repository for news. The reports need to be created weekly. then there is monthly and quarterly. Think of the reports as the top news of the week, top news of the month, top news of the quarter.
Do you input the information manually in the sheet? (No forms)

Right now it is all manually inputted by 1 person. Eventually we would like to create a form so contributors can add directly into smart sheets.
Is it a running list or is a new sheet per month or similar?

It is a running. I've created reports to filter by certain criteria which also includes dates.
Do you have any screenshots or sheets/documents that you are using today that you could share?

I don't have anything I can publicly share. The information is confidential hence my generic data that I first submitted.

What I have done right now is create a macro in excel that does the formatting I need. Although this does work Id like to keep it all cloud based incase the person that creates the report is not on a computer that has excel desktop. Part of our stack is Box. Not sure if this helps or not.

Thank you for your time.

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

One more question.

How many news updates are input approximately in the sheet/month?

G Hustad

We have a similar use case, where we'd like select fields from each row within the sheet to be able to produce a formatted report when needed. Ideally we'd also like to have archives of these "reports" if/when data within them/the sheet is changed.

Andrée Starå

Hi,

How should the report be formatted?

Can you describe your process in more detail and maybe share the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too, andree@getdone.se)

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting

G Hustad

Basically this is the current Excel template. Although the output from the sheet doesn't need to look exactly like this, it gives you an idea. Think of each section/cell of the "report" as a column and each row of the sheet would produce one of these Excel reports once completed.

Brief Image.png

SmartSheetBatman

i have a similar scenario to G Hustad

do we have a way to export the file to a formatted document?

essentially i want to export my grid items into a formatted document on a weekly basis

there will be updates ad hoc, multiple times a week and i would like to take a snapshot of it every friday and then send it to managers/execs using the formatted file

thanks

Adam Beckner

I have a similar request... has there been a solution for this?

Andrée Starå

Hi Adam, @Adam Beckner

Can you describe your process in more detail and maybe share the sheet(s)/copies of the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too, andree@getdone.se)

I hope that helps!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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