Update request comments

Monika Vermeulen

Update requests are great, however none of the comments get stored within Smartsheet but only get sent as a part of an email. This way discussions get lost that should remain part of the row it is about. Copying and pasting these discussions is just double work. Can we please get away to ad them to tow discussions?

Eric Browne

We are in the design phase for improvements to the Update Request feature, so this is very timely input.  This is on the list of enhancements we're working on.

Thanks!

Eric

Travis

 

Hi Monika - When filling out an Update Request the "Message" section at the bottom is used for sending comments to the user who sent you the Request. As you have seen, this is only sent to the requestor and is not added to the sheet. You can still add Discussions to the sheet through the Discussions column or add comments to a “Comments” column (if you have one in your sheet).

Monika Vermeulen

I understand that Travis, but us counter intuitive. Especially when I'm getting feedback from my employees about something important. I would rather remove the comment section completely to force them to make use of the other comment section rather than how it is now, but would LOVE it if it kept record somehow of comments on completed update requests. If I go view completed update requests this comment should be linked or vissable in that completed update request at the very least, if not added as a comment attaches to the row. Instead it gets completely discarded and i need to sift through all me email to find it.

Travis

Monika - Thanks for your input! I understand where you are coming from with this request. As Eric mentioned, we are looking into improving the Update Request feature and I will pass your feedback along to the product team.

Dean Levick

I agree, the ability to have smartsheet automatically capture communications data in particular with potential attachments would be a huge advantage in the update request responses from project team members. 

PPS Solutions

same again from us, many differing customers are wanting this feature.

Roger Clissold

You can add my name to that list. I think that all items entered by everyone should be stored in the Discussion Comment.

Mark Bonham

Monika has a brilliant recommendation.  We are seeing the same problem when updates are used.  In fact many don't even notice the comment box below and just update the row with no communication.  I think it would be ideal on update requests that user recieving request update the row as necessary but is also obliged to update the comment box in the row.  Secondly that on completion the the sender receives notice with link to row in email notice to go straight to the row if they want.

Travis

Good suggestion Mark! Just a note - the sender will get an email when the request is completed with information on what was changed and a link to the sheet. While it will not take them directly to the row, the email does provide information on which row was updated and what was changed. 

Brad Jones

Here's another limitation of the UR feature that I would like corrected.

 

When I receive the confirmation that my UR was complete, I can see the items that they updated/changed.  However, I cannot see what was the update request itself.  If you send out 15-30 UR per day, it's really not possible to keep up with what you requested for every item.  So, because I don't get a copy of the Request with the "answer", I still have to have the email open to find the row, and then I have to open the Smartsheet to check what was the request.

 

This is really inefficient for me and my users.  If we could just include the UR with the confirmation email it would save me so much time.

 

Thanks,

Brad

Brad Jones

Found this again.  Yes, this would be one really easy way of improving the painful UR process.

Ian_Scott

One relatively easy and quick fix I see to this problem would be to add another button called "send as update request" beside the "Post" button when using the discussion/comments column of a row.  Users would then either be able to simply write their comment as before and post or send the comment/reply as an 'update request' by then clicking the 'send as update request' instead of 'post'.  Smartsheet would then generate the email (or perhaps then open the update dialogue box which would allow a user to include others in the UR discussion as required).

CVM

It has been well over two and half years since this was first proposed; any update? Thank you.

Brad Jones

Here here CVM,

The comment from Smartsheet was that they were in the design phase of improving the Update Request feature back in early 2015.  Well, between that time and now we have not seen any core change in how the UR feature works.  Yes yes now you can automate the UR if you are on the right plan, but the fundamental weaknesses of the UR have not been touched.

1. The UR sent and the Update Confirmation received don't share the same title (so are hard to match up in your email account)

2. The UC received does not contain the text of the UR, so it is difficult to know if the person addressed all of the questions in the original UR.

3.  The UC does not show a real 'dif' of what happened in the cells, so while you may see the new numbers it does not show you the magnitude of the changes.

4. Users don't like UR emails, and tend to want to just make the change in the platform directly.  It's not possible to just complete the UR from within the platform.

5. Bad traceability.  How am I supposed to know if something in my sheet was changed via UR, or just entered manually?

My hope is that they've been really cooking up a good solution for this, because after 2.5 years with no significant change to this problematic feature maybe they'll surprise us with something spectacular.

awardblvr

In using Update Requests, is it possible (or HOW) to include the discussion thread, comments or a link to all that?

And how can I include the connected documents, or a link to them?

 

CONTEXT of question:

When assigning tasks to collaborators with no SmartSheet experience, I want to give them a form to update the status ("Accept this assignment")  AND see the background information (Discussion/Comments) and related information (Attachments) all in ONE email.  I want it to be a FORM, so they don't have to think of things in terms of a spreadsheet (confusing for novices).

Thanks