Can I disable the contact image next to contacts in contact fields?

Mike Wilday

We just noticed that Smartsheet contact fields are now displaying images next to the contact names. Is there an option to disable this? The contact image is muddying up the display of the data and distracts from the important information on the sheet. It also forces us to make the column wider to see the full name of the user. Please advise on how this can be disabled to show just the contact name. 

Thank you! 

Kyle Morgan

+1 to the above.

Not a fan of this change. Please say that there is a way to disable this feature.

J. Craig Williams

Not a fan either or having releases without release notes.

Craig

sean59916

+1 for that too.

Many times, I see a notification that there have been updates while i have been logged on - but, i'm unable to find any release notes to tell me what has been updated.

J. Craig Williams

They should be here:

https://www.smartsheet.com/release-notes

I know there have been more releases than is shown here.

You can get to the archived ones too from that page (link on left)

I use Wachete (https://www.wachete.com/) but if they don't post anything, that does not do any good.

Craig

Julie

+1  

 

I use colour coding for contacts and the "initial blob" shown  is annoying and also in the wrong colours so all my preset forms now look wrong and I can't use them!

It may sound petty, but this is a deal breaker for us.

Please allow us to disable this...

Mike Wilday

Can an employee from Smartsheets please provide an explanation for why this update was made without any announcement? PLEASE. This is a really distracting and annoying feature that should be optional.

J. Craig Williams

I'm not expecting an answer until after ENGAGE is over on Thursday.

Craig

Paul Newcome

I am expecting all of these changes to be "released" AT Engage. I discovered the Alerts and Actions change this morning along with the @ function in the row and sheet level comments to "mention" someone. The last update I saw was the placeholders in the Alerts and Update Requests.

J. Craig Williams

Are you there, Paul?

 

 

Paul Newcome

No. I tried to get my managers to send me (I saw the Octoberfest theme haha), but because we are still relatively new to Smartsheet (6 months) and still only have 2 departments using it in a "testing" manner, they didn't approve it. Not to mention my department is swamped, so being away from the office for that long would hamper quite a bit and the fact that my office is East Coast (about an hour or so from DC depending on traffic).

 

I'll probably be at next year's though as I have been dubbed my company's "Smartsheet Guru"/"Super Duper Power User". I am also in touch with a few SS people directly, so that's helped me get answers a little faster than submitting a form.

 

I just figured that since they stopped updating the release notes (last one I saw was 13 Sept.) recently leading up to Engage, they were saving the big "reveal" so they had some new stuff to show off.

 

It makes sense to do a quiet release and get feedback from the community of regular users. Gives them time to tweak a few things and figure out the best way to shine the most positive light on the changes in such a public way as Engage.

J. Craig Williams

I probably should shut up, but these are MY OPINIONS and those of no one else I may be affiliated with:

re: I just figured that since they stopped updating the release notes (last one I saw was 13 Sept.) recently leading up to Engage, they were saving the big "reveal" so they had some new stuff to show off.

It makes sense to do a quiet release and get feedback from the community of regular users. Gives them time to tweak a few things and figure out the best way to shine the most positive light on the changes in such a public way as Engage.

The last good release notes were in May. There have been several 'silent releases' since then with NO release notes. Given the track record of releasing software with bugs, this is a BAD IDEA.

In general, it RARELY (I would say never, but won't) a good idea to release something as an official release and expect to get customers to do your final testing for you. It costs the customer time and effort and frustration to work through issues ESPECIALLY WITHOUT WARNING OR DOCUMENTATION.

Beta testing. Great. Alpha testing. Great. This? NO. I spent HOURS trying to figure out if what I was looking at was something I did or something a customer  did, only to turn out to be a new feature or a deprecated feature. 

What would YOUR customers say if you suddenly disabled a Report feeding a Dashboard they looked at every Friday because you wanted to test some new design? What if you weren't there to revert the changes because you were home with your sick child?  

Blind-siding your customers is a BAD IDEA.

//pause rant (it ain't over but I'm taking it offline and will spare readers the rest)

 

Paul Newcome

Looking at it from that standpoint, I can see where you're coming from. I hadn't looked at it that way as I haven't really been too involved in something like this in the past with new product releases and whatnot. The closest (and longest) I've been to "customer service" outside of doing taxes on the side has been law enforcement. Not much crossover from there to here. Haha.

 

You do make some good points, and your frustration is understandable. I just figured the way this was going was the norm for this kind of thing, but I see now how this can (very likely) have a negative impact on their customer base. Especially the regular users.

Mike Wilday

@Craig > Rants are desireable.

@ Paul > This is the norm. For Smartsheets that is. As a consumer of many things tech. It is rare that you aren't notified of major changes to software ahead of time. Or at least introduced to what's coming or at least notified when something has been released. 

Paul Newcome

@Craig

 

Rant away. I've learned that you know what you're talking about and have pretty good insight and ideas (usually  Haha)

 

@Mike

 

Well then...

 

Kinda seems like Smartsheet needs to get on the ball a touch then. I do get the frustration though. Everyone in my office using SS has been flooding my inbox about these Alerts and Actions changes they made yesterday. Of course I wasn't in yesterday, so I was behind the curve with it as usually I learn it first and then give people the info they need before they even realize something changed. I have had to block out time on my schedule to try to figure out the nuances of those, so I can block out time on everyone else's schedule and show everyone at the same time instead of the usual where someone shoots me an email, and I've already got the answer, so I can handle the questions as they come.