How to handle a very long list of (multiple select) choices in a form

Kris Dysert

I am new to Smartsheet and using it to replace old InfoPath forms. One thing I cannot find an elegant solution for is expanding fields/sections. Basically, I want to send an instructor a form that asks which courses they would like to teach next semester. There are hundreds of courses. I will eventually want to use this to copy/link to another sheet where I can see all instructors who have selected a specific course.

Right now I have a form with 6 questions, each of which lists several courses that they can multiple select. For instance, the 'ACC-ART' dropdown has the choices "ART 100, ART 101, ART 102. etc". The issue there is that in my sheet, there is an ACC-ART column with many selections in one cell. 

Is there a formula to break them out on a new sheet, in a relational style? So that

Dysert, Kris     ART 100, ART 101

becomes

Dysert, Kris     ART 100

Dysert, Kris     ART 101

? Or is there a better way to handle this? All I can think of is a big horrible form with every course listed and a yes/no checkbox next to each... I would have them type in the courses in text boxes, if data validation were possible.

Any help is much appreciated!

Corey.Hokanson

There are multiple ways of doing this. 

The simplest, based on your request to store the data as:

 

Dysert, Kris     ART 100

Dysert, Kris     ART 101

Would be to turn off multi-select. Then have the teacher fill out the form once for each class they're teaching. 

Kris Dysert

Thanks, but asking each instructor to fill out 20+ forms is not an option.

Andrée Starå

Hi Kris,

As a possible workaround, you could use a third-party form service that integrates with Smartsheet. Something like Google Forms or similar.

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/1850129-smartsheet-sync-add-on-for-google-forms

Would that work?

I hope that helps!

Have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD