Update Request Links

Mike Rini

Hi -

I'm wondering if there's any way to capture the actual Update Request link (what comes through in the email when you send the Update Request) in a report?

Our account people get tons of Update Requests, and don't always have the info to follow up immediately. So, rather than have to sift through emails, is there an easier way to find / access an old Update Request that's not yet been completed?

Andrée Starå

Hi Mike,

You can look at the Update Request history here.

Would that work?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Mike Rini

Hi Andree -

Thanks, yeah I can see all the pending requests there, but what I'm trying to do is send everyone (a day, a week, etc.) a list of the Update Requests they still have pending. Right now, they get them via email, but may not have the information to complete the Update Request until a week from now. At that point, they have to dig through their email to try and find that request. So, I was trying to build a report / automation to show them their requests that still have to be completed, and include the link to the Update Request right in there.

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

Ok.

How are the update requests triggered?

Mike Rini

I'm just using an Automated Workflow that sends an Update Request, and I select the fields I want to send. So the link comes through in the email in the form of the button, but I don't know if it's tracked elsewhere.

Andrée Starå

What are the conditions for sending the request?

Mike Rini

So I have a Status drop down. When a Status is changed (manually by a team member) to a certain status (Awaiting Account), it generates the Update Request to a person in a Contact List that's assigned. If HOW it's being done matters, I think I can accommodate that, but I'm just wondering if there's a way to capture the links associated with an individual request.

Andrée Starå

Ok.

Unfortunately, as far as I know, it's not possible at the moment to get the link (maybe possible with the Smartsheet API), but it's an excellent idea!

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment

As a possible workaround, you could have the row copied to another sheet or also trigger an automated Approval Request that would change the status of the row for the approval and then use that or the other sheet to mark what is completed or help find the right email.

Would that work/help?

Mike Rini

I'm not sure, possibly? By virtue of putting it into our Awaiting Account status, I know what's open and what's not. So, reporting on those open items are not necessarily the issue, it's having the individual requests/update request links in one place that is the challenge.

We used to have 2 forms, but we're streamlining a bit and consolidating to one form. With two forms, it wasn't an issue.

Andrée Starå

Ok.

How were you using the two forms? I'm thinking that the new form and logic might help.

What do you think?

Mike Rini

Form 1 initiated the request. When it was ready, the team set the Status to Awaiting Account. When they did that an email was generated with the link to Form 2 and the Account team could enter in their portion. Those two forms were linked by a Unique ID, and that had to be entered in Form 2 because when it was submitted, it pulled (via a vlookup) all the data over from Form 1's Sheet, into Form 2's Sheet so it was then one place. It was kind of messy that way, which is why we're switching to this new format.

Andrée Starå

@Mike Rini

Ok. I'll get back to you if I come to think of another way to solve it.

Another idea that might work would be to use the 3rd party service, Zapier, and an email address specifically for this use case. We would copy the email to the sheet, and then they should be able to access the link.

ipeat

You could use the CC feature to have the link emailed to yourself as well then use a mail rule to redirect those emails to another folder. Using another automation tool link Flow to compile the links.

zsiegel

I don't believe this is possible with the Smartsheet API - the schema of the response when a GET or POST request is sent to the /updaterequests endpoint does not include a URL (https://smartsheet.redoc.ly/tag/updateRequests#operation/updaterequests-create).

Can anyone at Smartsheet commment on whether it is possible to get the update request link via API? It would really be useful for me.

Genevieve P.

Hi @zsiegel

You're correct - the link behind the "Submit Update" button that opens up the Update Request form is not included in the API endpoints. You can see the Status, Subject, Message, and Recipient of the request, but not the link to the actual request itself. This needs to be accessed via their email.

Cheers,

Genevieve

zsiegel

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/388185#Comment_388185

Can you explain the rationale here?

The only way to achieve the functionality we're after is to build a custom web form ourselves, populated with fields dynamically pulled from the Smartsheet API and whose submissions are written to the sheet via the Smartsheet API. This seems like a lot of work when the update request API endpoints could just return a link.