Custom Views

Hi everybody,

this is probably not a new one, but I've not been able to immediately identify the right thread - therefore let's try again:

We've started a new sheet with some intense collaboration, and everybody has his preferred view in the meaning of what to collapse and what to extend (preferences as well change over time depending on the topic the person is currently working on).

When saving changes, this currently seems to save not just data only, but the view (incl. collaps/extend) too. So when re-opening a sheet, I'll find previous saved view and as well get messed up everytime I do a refresh - Any updates in the pipeline?

I'm familiar with the report capabilities, but very much miss collaps/expand capabilities there ...

Any help is very much appreciated!

Best Regards

Marco

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Enhancement Request

Comments

Richard Rymill SBP

Ok Marco, I can understand your issue and we have to use Smartsheet for what it is good at, to get the best out of it, so what about Publishing the Project sheet in Gantt view, give your colleagues a link to View it, which they can keep on their desktop so they can get the big picture and view it how they wish, but let them get the work done in Reports which will filter out anything that is not essential to their work.

They can still access the project sheet as before, if they wish to, but if the above works better, then you have given everyone what they want without the frustration?

Try that?

Richard

Mike Blumenstein

Marco,

Yes, you are correct that the last saved view of a sheet with hierarchy expanded and collapsed is what is presented to the next user that opens up the sheet. Reports might be the work around for that, even though you are missing the expand/collapse of the hierarchy, you can filter your results to what is relevant for your view today with reports.

Another option would be to use a couple of the new formulas that just rolled out recently "JOIN" and "ANCESTORS" to create a new column that shows the breadcrumb that can be filtered on to only show you the sections of the project plan that matter to you. Filters are personal views, so every time you open the sheet you will see the same data set (like a report) but this will also maintain the use of hierarchy.

1. Create a new dropdown column called "Breadcrumb", and add this formula to row 1, change the name of your primary column, row 1 like [Task Name]1 or whatever. Copy/Paste this formula down the entire sheet.

=JOIN(ANCESTORS(Primary1), " / ")

2. Filter on the breadcrumbs you want to see, you can add/remove items at any time.

Let me know your thoughts!

-Mike

Marco B.

Hi everybody,

thank you both for the proposed workarounds!

To further clarify - currently everybody involved needs to switch between topics in a very frequent way, while working with smartsheet should remain as comfortable as possible and therefore switching reports or constantly changing filters will not represent the optimal solution.

The fact that filters are personal helps a lot - but the issue with collapsing/expanding still remains - are there any plans for improving this, like google did with their gsheets?

Best Regards

Marco

Mike Blumenstein

Marco,

I will add personal views of hierarchy as an enhancement request. I'm not sure where that is today on the roadmap, but every request is a vote!

Can you expand a bit more on the recent gsheets improvement? I'm not familiar with what you are referencing here.

J. Craig Williams

Marco,

The Smartsheet Devs are also working on saved filters which might help a lot here added to Mike's breadcrumb solution.

Watch for it.

Craig

Jeff Handy

+1 !!!

Hollywood

I think my need is same as Marco's -- we're looking to use Smartsheets as a multi-user solution to track and update status information on particular initiatives. One row per initiative. Each user represents their particular department -- so they are only responsible for a subset of the columns. Expect to have 8-10 total departments and 20 - 30 end users.

So this challenge can't be solved via a report. This is an ease-of-use for data entry as well as viewing.

One solution would be a filter that allows the user to only see the columns that are of interest to them. Another solution would allow the user to create a view that's a custom column sequence that they use.

cstecyk

This would be extremely helpful.

Weare working on creating a sudo ticket system with smart sheet, where instructors can use a webform to log an issue or request an edit/addition to the course.

There are a ton more columns that the developers are using to track the edits, but I want the instructors to be able to login and see progress on their 'ticket'- they dont need to see all the columns .

Thoughts on a current work around to this?

Thanks,

Chelsea

Mike Blumenstein

Chelsea,

There is a premium ($) add-on application available that does just what you wanted. It's called Status View, and it may or may not already be included in your existing plan. We use this all the time internally for IT Help desk requests, requests for changes to our CMS, and more. It will only show the columns you want to show, and can give the user access to upload documents, add comments, and open/close their "ticket" without giving access to the underlying sheet as a viewer or editor. Pretty slick stuff!

https://www.smartsheet.com/apps/status-view

Mike Blumenstein

Saved/shared/default filters are available today which may help to change views quickly in a sheet, and you can give other users a way to see only their items pretty quickly, while maintaining the hierarchy on the sheet.

You can set them to be the default view (first time for users) in the Sharing tab, as long as it's set to be shared with other users.

QueenD

I guess my issue is pretty similar to this too, but more simple. Basically, I just want to know if Smartsheet offers a feature that allows me, as the sheet Owner, to dictate what my resources can see. If I share my sheet with 3 people and give them "Editor-can share" access, I want to be able to explicitly choose what I want them to see and not see at a given time.

For e.g., if I'm updating the formulas in my hidden and locked columns, I want to be able to do that "behind the scenes". I want my view to show me the sheet with the locked columns unhidden, but if one of my users accesses the sheet at the very same exact time I'm editing the sheet, I still want those columns to remain locked and hidden. I don't want them to see me working on the sheet.

Does this make sense?

As sheet Owner, I should be able to decide how I want the sheet to look at all times and to all collaborators.

Looking forward to hearing back.

Thanks in advance!

PC Surgeon

The "Filter Views" feature in Google Sheets would be exactly the thing we need. It allows for ad hoc playing with views and filters without disturbing other's use of the spreadsheet. Very versatile and immediately available to everyone using the sheet.

My vote is for an exact copy of that functionality.