Upcoming changes to our automated notifications - live today 17th April 2020

Abimbola Deniga

I noticed since the new enhancements went live, when a form approver receives an email notification of a new approval, the email carries the name of the owner of the sheet e.g Abimbola Deniga via Smartsheet <automation@smartsheet.com> as against Smartsheet Automation <automation@smartsheet.com> which it used to be. Please advise on a workaround to removing my name from this sender email as I am the only one in my company who has a license and have many forms created for different users across the business; this bearing my name doesn't look tidy at all and its even confusing some approvers. Thanks

Andrée Starå

Hi Abimbola,

Unfortunately, it's not possible at the moment, but it's an excellent idea!

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment

There are a few possible workarounds being discussed here.

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/67525/upcoming-changes-to-our-automated-notifications-live-today-17th-april-2020

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Genevieve P.

Hi @Abimbola Deniga

I've moved your question over to this thread where other users are discussing the same topic.

If you will be the owner of the majority of the sheets with alerts, you could potentially adjust your name in Smartsheet to appear as something more generic, as this will then update what's shown in the alerts.

Susan Peck

@Genevieve P

Will changing your display name in Smartsheet also change the name used in Contact List columns? We have many Assigned To columns on sheets that use the contact name from the Users Management list. If I change my name to "Smartsheet Automation" does that replace my actual name in any tasks assigned to me?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Susan B Peck

Great question. Yes, it will adjust how your name is displayed throughout Smartsheet in Contact List columns.

That said, users can actually apply their own name for you in their sheets for those columns (kind of like a nickname), separate from your name set in the Personal Settings. For example, here is my name in my personal settings on a different account:

If you set the name here to "Smartsheet Automation" then initially your email would appear to have that name associated with it in drop-down contact list columns. However, if users double-click on that email/name, each user can apply a different name for your email - personalized just for their account.

This is what I've done for my personal email; I've labeled this email as "Personal Email" instead of showing my name:

If you hover over the contact you will see the name set in their personal settings, the one associated with their account, as well as their email, but the sheet will display your nickname for that contact within the grid. You can add contacts to that column using the nickname instead of their account name.

I can type "Personal Email" in any other sheet to bring up the contact in a contact list, even though it's a different name than what's set in the account settings. Keep in mind that when sharing, users will need to know what your name is in your settings (so in this case, they will need to know you are called Smartsheet Automation) or they can find you by your email address.

You can read more about this in our Help Center, at the bottom of this page: https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/get-started/contacts

Susan Peck

@Genevieve P thanks for the detailed explanation. I'm not sure that solution will work for our situation, but it is one workaround.

John Kippers

I must have misunderstood the message when they sent this out, I understood you would have the option of turning it on to show the email as coming from the owner. Now I have a lot of people asking me why I'm sending them emails, and why. Now instead of the smartsheet emails getting ignored and deleted it will be mine.

This was not a well thought out "enhancement" in my opinion.

This needs to revert back to the way it was until it becomes an option.

Aaron Reckinger

Transferring a paid account to a free account has changed email notifications in Smartsheet to now specify that they are from "Myself via Smartsheet", when it was originally "Via Smartsheet". How do I change this back to only show that it is "Via Smartsheet", and eliminate any confusion possibilities that I am personally sending them that notification. "Myself" shows my name, so it is confusing employees to think I am sending certain things when it is actually smartsheet notifications set up. I am not able to locate the setting the change this.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Aaron Reckinger

I saw you new question and have moved it to this current thread discussing the recent update that was made in regards to Smartsheet Notifications and how they are received. Please submit an Enhancement Request to provide feedback to our Product team about this new update.

Lauren Jones

This is a big problem. We need to be able to set who the From and To fields are immediately.

I set up multiple clients accounts with automation. Now they are all emailing me instead of contacting the relevant person within the company.

It is a great feature if we can set who the From and To are, but at the moment is very problematic!!!!

Marie Shute

I agree with all comments, each user / company will have different requirements.

For info, I've put in an enhancement request as;

Causes problems as now the owner is getting emails (albeit forwarded on, not replied to) instead of the real people it should be.

If we had options so that users can;

- Not have any name or 'from' when emails go out

- Owner or any Smartsheet user name

- Generic / Manually inputted name

Then I think it would suit all users.

Ie; My "Accounts Payable Invoices Approval" smartsheet I would choose to have the name "Accounts Payable" but I would be the owner -as in my third example. 

julieoster

I also submitted the feature request to allow the option of emails coming from the owner or a generic Smartsheet notification. I own many forms/Smartsheets and do not want my name on all notifications.

Michiel Buenk

This new 'feature' although nice at first sight causes the emails to be sent to the SPAM folder because "this email appears to come from someone you know, but with a different email address".

And the recipient never sees the email.

SInce I use the new workflow functionality and I can NOT trust the emails get to their destination my Smartsheet is rendered useless.

Please fix this ASAP.

AverageUser

Chiming in that this is indeed a BIG PROBLEM!

Try as I might, I can't understand the reasoning for making this a global change and how this made it through your approval process. Very poor decision. I give a lot of praise to Smartsheet when you do something right... this is totally wrong.

Thibault P

Hi,

I am really surprised by this decision made by smartsheet.

I received several complaints from collaborators thinking that it's me who wrote notifications. I made the decision to change my name by "automatic mail" until an update is implemented.