Cell History Restricted to Licensed Users

Eileen Dyer

Based on the just released announcement regarding changes to permissions for non-licensed users it looks like the ability to view cell history will be restricted to licensed users. This is a common function used by all of our team members. It enables us to keep just the most recent status update comments visible in a cell but anyone can easily view the cell history to see prior status updates, when they were made, and by whom.  With this ability now being restricted to only licensed users I need to determine how to instruct the team members to enter their status updates but still enable this historical view. My only thought is to append each status update with a new date and status. The result will potentially be a large text box with a lot of updates and a cluttered sheet to view.

does anyone have a more elegant solution for this function?

Thanks

mashermags

As per my comment against Mike Kampff's post (made around the same time as yours) I completely agree that this simple but brilliant feature of Smartsheet should remain available to collaborators. If not, people may either try to devise cumbersome workarounds (detracting from the reputation of the product) or reluctantly consider moving to another solution.

Paul Newcome

Would using row comments be an option?

Eileen Dyer

Paul,

the row comments might be a possible workaround but not ideal. Two issues are that the row comments are not immediately displayed when the sheet is open for viewing. I like to have the most recent status update available for easy viewing and then use cell history to view the history. We could still have a cell for current status and then copy it over to row comments prior to any updates - this is duplicate effort and and easily forgotten step.

the second issue would be if there are more than one cell that required the ability to see the history by the entire team. Row comments will not work in this case.

mashermags

Just received the notification from Smartsheet that “Upon further review, we have decided that at this time we will maintain access to the View Cell History feature for all users”. This is excellent news, and a fine example of a company listening to fair and constructive feedback from its customers and acting accordingly. Well done to the Smartsheet team!