Query String to Filter A Sheet

ahill

Is it possible to use query strings to link a filtered sheet?

E.G. ?Row=1&Task=Review&Resource=John

If so I think this should be submitted for enhancement, as it could prove to be extremely useful.

Andrée Starå

Hi,

Unfortunately, as far as I know, it's not possible at the moment, but it's an excellent idea!

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment to have your vote added

As a possible workaround, you can link to specific filters but the filter has to be created first.

I hope that helps!

Have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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ahill

I'll submit it. The reason this would work better is that you do not have to anticipate what filters people will want. You could then essentially be creating ad-hoc reports by quickly querying certain things on the fly as you need them.

Paul Newcome

I have done something before where I add in a row at the top and an extra checkbox column (that is then hidden).

The checkbox column has a formula that will check the box on each row that matches whatever criteria is entered in the top row.

Leaving a filter in place that only shows checked rows means that once you enter the info in row 1 and save, you can then refresh the browser, and the filter will kick in. This was before the Sheet Summary feature, but I am sure you could use the Sheet Summary fields to enter the desired filter info that then drives the checkbox that the filter is built off of.

I know the step of refreshing the browser is a tad annoying, but it is an option.

ahill

@Paul, not a bad idea. However the feature I'm asking for would still be useful for passing parameters from outside that sheet.

Paul Newcome

@ahill True. I just figured I would chime in with an alternative. While it isn't an EXACT fit, it still allows for more flexible filtering of a sheet.

Andrée Starå

@ahill Yes, I agree, and it would be an excellent addition to Smartsheet features.

SunnyJ

So, on my dashboard, I have let's say properties by region. London, Southwest, Manchester, Wales. I want to click on London and get the list of properties (which I can do by creating a report with a filter "London". But that means I need 4 reports (one for each region). I cannot pass the filter "London"?

Paul Newcome

@SunnyJ That is correct, but it should be relatively straightforward to create the reports. Just create the report for London, "Save as New", rename it for Southwest and update the filter in the report to show "Southwest". Save that as new, rename for Manchester and update the filter to show Manchester, then keep repeating as many times as you need.

SunnyJ

Thanks Paul,..I'll do that,.it's not just 4 regions, it's like 20,.so I was just making sure there wasn't a quicker way.

Paul Newcome

There isn't a quicker way, but once you get into a rhythm with the save as new/tweak/save as new/tweak method, it should actually go pretty quickly. You shouldn't even have to go back to anything. As soon as you tweak, click on "File" in the top left corner and you should be able to save as new from there. The same box as usual will pop up, rename it there and click ok, adjust the filter (should only take a few seconds), save if it doesn't auto-save, file, save as new, rename, filter, save, file, save as new, so on and so forth.

SunnyJ

Oh dear. I now have another issue. So I create the report by saving a copy as new. The new copy does not show up when I go into my dashboard and try and create a widget with the report data. So I create a new report, and that too does not show up in the widget to pull in the report. The old reports do show up. They are all in the same folder. Any thoughts? Could it be a synching issue? Or should reports created be available immediately in the dashboard when creating a widget?

Paul Newcome

Save the dashboard then refresh the browser tab that the dashboard is in. It is just a syncing issue is all.