Attachments in Alerts

Cory Griffis

Can anyone come up with a workaround for this situation:

I have a submittal log for a construction project. I attach and log submittals in Smartsheet as they come in from the general contractor, and Smartsheet alerts the applicable designer that they need to review the submittal. Once they have done so and attached their reviewed copy, I get an alert that it is ready to send to the GC. I would like to be able to check a "Send to GC" box to send an alert to the GC with the attachment. I need to have control over when it gets sent to the GC. This is a template, so it needs to work across multiple projects.

As I have come to find, there is no way to include an attachment in an alert unless the attachment triggers the alert. I cannot fathom why this restriction is in place. The Update Request / Approval Workflow workaround does not work for me because it is confusing for the recipient and this is going to an outside party. The email they receive needs to be simple to understand. Arbitrary SS restrictions like this are starting to get really frustrating. I do not want to use a third part app, but I don't think it would work anyways without every project manager needing to have knowledge of the app and set up the workflows for each project.

Jeff Reisman

Just a note on what my testing revealed on this issue of comments and attachments on email alerts:

You have an alert that is triggered by a row change from checking a box or selecting a drop down choice, and you have indicated that A comment and An Attachment should be included in that alert.

Scenario 1: You add a comment on the row, and/or add an attachment on the row. You save the sheet. Then you check your box or select your drop down choice and save the sheet, triggering the alert.

Result 1: Your alert email is sent, however no comments or attachments are included in the email.

Scenario 2: You add a comment on the row, and/or add an attachment on the row. You DON'T yet save the sheet. Then you check your box or select your drop down choice, THEN save the sheet, triggering the alert.

Result 2: Your alert email is sent, including any comments or attachments made between the previous Save and the Save that triggered the alert... but ONLY those comments and attachments, not any that existed for the row from prior to that previous save.

An alternate solution that I think works better is to change the trigger and add a condition, then train users on the right way to enter comments/attachment that will properly trigger the alert. So instead of making the check box or drop-down choice your trigger, to make the alert get triggered by "adding or changing a comment or adding or changing an attachment," and set the condition for the alert that your check box field or drop down have a particular value. Because comments save automatically once submitted, train your users to add the attachment to a comment, instead of by itself through the attachment pane. In this way, both your comment and the attachment are sent to the alert recipients as one single email alert.

RESULT:

IT_DEPT_TRANSARC

Hi Smartsheet users,

There is a workaround to send attachments into alerts triggered by automations ! Follow these steps :

1°/ Save the desired sheet with another name (give it a technical one like BUFFER_«yourOriginalSheetName»)

2°/ Make the automation in the original sheet copy the desired rows into the BUFFER sheet

3°/ Create a new automation in the BUFFER sheet triggered by added rows and include attachments

4°/ ENJOY !!!

Mary_A

@coryg we had a similar situation -- Dynamic View was our solution. Attachments are visible and can be added in a view. That was an alternative to the restrictions you express here: " I do not want to use a third part app, but I don't think it would work anyways without every project manager needing to have knowledge of the app and set up the workflows for each project."

Cory Griffis

I've never used Dynamic View, so I don't know much about it, but it seems like that would require bringing the GCs into Smartsheet, which is not ideal for us. We work with a lot of different types of GCs. Some of them may be willing / capable of dealing with Smartsheet, but others just need an email with an attachment.

BrianBosché

@coryg You should try out proofing! Proofing allows you to upload an image, multiple images, or a PDF and request feedback from as many people as you like, even if they are not shared to the sheet or in your Smartsheet account. They can comment with annotations, and you can even track responses.

https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/smartsheet-advanced/proofing

Do you think this could help in your use case?

Cory Griffis

@BrianBosché Thanks for the response. I have looked into Proofing, but it is not a good solution for construction submittals for a few reasons:

1. We need more options than just "Approve" and "Reject", such as "Furnish as Noted" and "Revise and Resubmit". Custom options would be great.
2. From what I can tell the comments are lost when downloading the document. There is no way to see what the comments are unless you are using Smartsheet. This makes it impossible to send the reviewed submittal to a General Contractor in a format that he could forward on to his subs. Again unless everyone was in the Smartsheet ecosystem, which is rare. We also need the ability to archive the reviewed submittal with the comments intact.
3. There is still no way to automatically send the document once approved. I could setup an alert to the GC to trigger once it is approved, but from what I understand, this alert would not include the attachment. If I'm incorrect here, please let me know.

Melissa.Holland80446

You can include the attachment in the alert. In your alert, if you go to the custom settings, you can choose what columns you want displayed. Check the box for the attachment column. See the attached picture. Does this help?

attachments.JPG

Cory Griffis

@Melissa.Holland80446 I wish that worked, but unfortunately, attachments are only included when the attachment triggers the alert. I don't understand why, but that's how Smartsheet works.

Andrée Starå

Hi @coryg

Would it work/help if you send Update Requests instead?

Then it will work with the attachments.

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) 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!

Cory Griffis

@Andrée Starå Update Requests theoretically work, but they are very confusing to the recipient because I am not actually asking them for anything. I just need to send them the attachment. Unfortunately, I think Smartsheet just does not have the functionality needed to accomplish this. I will continue to send documents manually.

Andrée Starå

@coryg

What I ended up doing in a client solution was to include only one column/field with placeholders and information explaining the process.

It works perfectly so far.

Would that work in your use-case?

Colin Abernathy

Please explain why Smartsheet wouldn't by default build in functionality to include attachments in alerts? Why include it in the fields that can be customized in the alert if it's not already functioning?

Unknown

This content has been removed.

Jeff Reisman

Just a note on what my testing revealed on this issue of comments and attachments on email alerts:

You have an alert that is triggered by a row change from checking a box or selecting a drop down choice, and you have indicated that A comment and An Attachment should be included in that alert.

Scenario 1: You add a comment on the row, and/or add an attachment on the row. You save the sheet. Then you check your box or select your drop down choice and save the sheet, triggering the alert.

Result 1: Your alert email is sent, however no comments or attachments are included in the email.

Scenario 2: You add a comment on the row, and/or add an attachment on the row. You DON'T yet save the sheet. Then you check your box or select your drop down choice, THEN save the sheet, triggering the alert.

Result 2: Your alert email is sent, including any comments or attachments made between the previous Save and the Save that triggered the alert... but ONLY those comments and attachments, not any that existed for the row from prior to that previous save.

An alternate solution that I think works better is to change the trigger and add a condition, then train users on the right way to enter comments/attachment that will properly trigger the alert. So instead of making the check box or drop-down choice your trigger, to make the alert get triggered by "adding or changing a comment or adding or changing an attachment," and set the condition for the alert that your check box field or drop down have a particular value. Because comments save automatically once submitted, train your users to add the attachment to a comment, instead of by itself through the attachment pane. In this way, both your comment and the attachment are sent to the alert recipients as one single email alert.

RESULT:

IT_DEPT_TRANSARC

Hi Smartsheet users,

There is a workaround to send attachments into alerts triggered by automations ! Follow these steps :

1°/ Save the desired sheet with another name (give it a technical one like BUFFER_«yourOriginalSheetName»)

2°/ Make the automation in the original sheet copy the desired rows into the BUFFER sheet

3°/ Create a new automation in the BUFFER sheet triggered by added rows and include attachments

4°/ ENJOY !!!

Melisa Dannhauser

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/278792#Comment_278792

Thank you for this! It's not perfect to have to create a buffer sheet but it does solve the issue, at least for me!!! :)

Victor Tey

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/278792#Comment_278792

To forum admins: This workaround needs to be pinned. This is the only way to make it work. Not a perfect solution but probably the closest we'll get until Smartsheets actual develops a proper solution.