How to Limit Access to Smartsheet

Donna T

I know this question likely goes against all that is Smartsheet, but...

We have a sheet setup to take submissions from a form. When a new row is added, a contact in a column is notified. After the row's status is still "in progress" for 3, 6, and 9 days, the contacts get reminders that these rows are still "unresolved" and that they need to contact the Chief of Staff (CoS) to mark the issue resolved.

Here is the problem; when the Reminders go out, they contain a link to the Smartsheet -- the CoS only wants them to get a reminder -- not access the Smartsheet (because some of the information may be sensitive).

What is the best way to set this up -- we want them to get the information from the row submitted where they are the contact, but we don't want them accessing the Smartsheet.

Is this even possible?

Thank you,

Donna

Genevieve P.

Hi Donna,

As long as the sheet's workflow permissions allow it, users who are not shared to the sheet can receive Alerts & Reminders. Although the sheet link will be included in the email, if the users clicked on the link and they are not specifically shared to the sheet, they will be met with a blue screen telling them they don't have permission... does that make sense?

Then if you wanted them to update information, not just see the information in the alert, you could send out Update Requests instead. This allows users to make changes to rows from a form in their email - once again, they do not need to be shared to the sheet to do so.

Let me know if you have questions about this!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

No problem at all! Happy to help 😊

Genevieve P.

Hi Donna,

As long as the sheet's workflow permissions allow it, users who are not shared to the sheet can receive Alerts & Reminders. Although the sheet link will be included in the email, if the users clicked on the link and they are not specifically shared to the sheet, they will be met with a blue screen telling them they don't have permission... does that make sense?

Then if you wanted them to update information, not just see the information in the alert, you could send out Update Requests instead. This allows users to make changes to rows from a form in their email - once again, they do not need to be shared to the sheet to do so.

Let me know if you have questions about this!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Donna T

Thank you so much. This helps clarify.

Have a great day!

Genevieve P.

No problem at all! Happy to help 😊

Susan Grunenwald

I tried sending a test update request to my gmail account which is outside of my company, and Smartsheet would not let me put the gmail account into the update workflow unless that gmail was listed as shared to the sheet. So how do you send an update request to person outside company that you don't want to see or access the Smartsheet?

Donna T

@Susan Grunenwald I believe I added them to them Smartsheet Contacts first, then created the automation.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Susan Grunenwald

You'll want to check the Automation Permission settings on your sheet, see: Sheet-Level Automation Controls

If the users are not a part of your company's Smartsheet plan, then you'll want to select the Unrestricted setting. If you can't select this option, it may have been disabled for your company. In this case you will want to talk to the System Admin for your organization to update the global settings.

Let me know if you need any help finding the Automation Permission settings window for your sheet!

Cheers,

Genevieve