Best way to group rows in a report?

Ryan Nix

Hello,

We use Smartsheet as a task tracker, adding subtasks and milestones as a child row on the sheet. I understand that Smartsheet does not currently recognize the parent / child relationship in reports but I was wondering if anyone had any suggestions on how to group tasks together within a report?

As it stands now, if I was to go into the report it looks something like this:

Task 1

Task 2

Task 3

Task 3 Sub-task 1

Task 3 Sub-task 2

Task 3 Sub-task 3

Task 2 Sub-task 1

Initially I was hoping that the auto numbering column would help things grouped but that does not seem to help when new rows are added. Does anyone have any thoughts?

Paul Newcome

As long as there is no sorting within the report, it should pull the rows in order from top to bottom from the sheet which would in turn maintain the hierarchy.

Andrée Starå

Hi Ryan,

I'd first try to sort it by Task Name but we might need to use so-called helper columns to also sort by parent and children.

Would that work?

Can you describe your process in more detail and maybe share the sheet(s)/copies of the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too, andree@getdone.se)

I hope that helps!

Have a fantastic weekend & Happy Holidays!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

Paul Newcome

As long as there is no sorting within the report, it should pull the rows in order from top to bottom from the sheet which would in turn maintain the hierarchy.

Ryan Nix

@Andrée Starå - Appreciate the feedback - it looks like this was a case of someone sorting the report without me realizing it.

@Paul Newcome Looks like that was the was the issue. Thank you!

Andrée Starå

@Ryan Nix Aha! I assumed that couldn't be the case! Never assume is the lesson. 🤣

Paul Newcome

@Ryan Nix Glad you got it sorted (or unsorted haha). Happy to help! 👍️

HOWEVER... If you do need to sort the report such as by date or something but still maintain your hierarchies then you would need to go Andree's route using helper columns.

Andrée Starå

@Paul Newcome Sorted! 🤣