Dynamic View- Restrict view by current user

Wes

Do you have to share the underlying sheet, in order for this feature to work? I thought the beauty of Dynamic View was to hide the underlying sheet from end users. It only works for me if the underlying sheet is shared.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Wes

You're absolutely correct, you do not need to share the underlying sheet to the user with Dynamic View.

The Restrict by Current User should work, if it's set up on a contact column. When you note that it doesn't work, are you seeing a blank view? Is it possible that you're logging in to Dynamic View with a different email/account than what is used in the Contact Column?

It would be helpful to see screen captures of how the view is configured along with what you see, if possible (but please block out any sensitive data).

Thanks!

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @Wes

You're absolutely correct, you do not need to share the underlying sheet to the user with Dynamic View.

The Restrict by Current User should work, if it's set up on a contact column. When you note that it doesn't work, are you seeing a blank view? Is it possible that you're logging in to Dynamic View with a different email/account than what is used in the Contact Column?

It would be helpful to see screen captures of how the view is configured along with what you see, if possible (but please block out any sensitive data).

Thanks!

Genevieve

Wes

You were correct - I was testing the Dynamic View with another email address . It is now working as expected.

Thanks

Genevieve P.

Great! Glad that it works for you! 🙂

Scott Seligson

Hi Genevieve...I have a similar problem here. I am able to restrict data row views by the current user for all users inside my client's organization account. However I have users outside of their account (emails are from other domains) so I want to use the "allow all users with this link..." to see the data, but when using that the data filter restrictions seem to be ignored (e.g. my source smartsheet has the users listed in the contact type column and the report has the right filter looking for the current user in that contact column)...however the dynamic view when embedded in a dashboard is showing all data to any user listed in that contact column vs only the rows they are on.

Is there a way to get all users to only see the data rows I want them to regardless of being inside or external to my client's domain email accounts (without having to share with them the source smartsheet w/all the data?)?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Scott Seligson

If you're able to share screen captures without posting any personal information, it would be really helpful to visually see what you're describing.

If I'm understanding you correctly, you're using a Dynamic View link embedded on a Published Dashboard to share this information out to internal and external Smartsheet users, but you only want them to see rows they're assigned to.

In order to see Dynamic View, users need to have a Smartsheet login (see: Dynamic View App: Interact with a View). This means that when they access your Dashboard, they'll see a widget telling them to log in to Smartsheet first before they can view data. Once they log in, the Dynamic View will use that email address to filter the rows and only display ones assigned to that email (whether that's an internal or external email).

To do what I've described, you want to ensure that your Dynamic View settings are as follows.

In the General tab, Restrict the view by Current User, selecting your Contact Column with the internal / external emails.

Then in the Sharing tab, share the view to either the individual emails, domains, or groups. Based on your description, it sounds like you may want to create a Smartsheet Group with all these additional users listed, then simply share the view to the group:

Next, embed the Dynamic View URL as a Web Content Widget into your Dashboard:

Then if you Publish your Dashboard, this is how the widget will appear to anyone not currently logged in to Smartsheet:

If users log in with a different email than what you have in your Contact Column, the'll see a blank widget. Otherwise, they should only see rows assigned to them in your Contact Column.

If this is not what you're experiencing, I would suggest reaching out to Smartsheet Support with full screen captures of your configuration and source sheet, identifying the email addresses that the view works for and the ones where it doesn't.

Cheers!

Genevieve

MichaelNewfie

Hi,

I am creating a Dynamic View for a sheet that is initially populated via a form. We need people to go back in to add to the form once people review it. That being said, I am trying to restrict the views so that the requester can see their own submissions. Am I correct in assuming that the 'Restrict view by current user' is what I need? If so, how does it work because when I select that drop down below it, there is nothing in there.

I do have a contact column in the form where the user enters their email address as well. Thanks for any help you can provide.

Michael

Genevieve P.

Hi @MichaelNewfie

You are correct! The "Restrict View by Current User" is what you need, and you need to designate what column is the one to read the "Current User".

If you're seeing a blank view after enabling this restriction, is it possible that none of the cells in the column you've chosen contain your Contact?

MichaelNewfie

Thanks Genevieve for your help. I have the restricting access working great now but how does the person view the dynamic view if they are not regular users of smartsheet? If for instance they filled out a form, via a link we sent them and then later on we need them to update some fields, how do they view that specific view? Thanks,

Michael

Genevieve P.

Hi @MichaelNewfie

In order for the View to filter by who's looking at it, that user will need to Log in to Smartsheet (this is how it recognizes the Contact).

This means people you're sharing this View to will need a Smartsheet account to access the Dynamic View app. They can quickly set up a free Smartsheet account when they first access Dynamic View and click the "Log In with Smartsheet Account button". See the note in this article: Dynamic View App: Interact with a View

Cheers,

Genevieve

Merri Jones

Hi Genevieve,

Does the "Restrict view by current user" work if the contact field allows multiple contacts per cell?

Also, I have multiple contact fields/columns in the sheet and I would like any of those contacts to be able to access the rows. Do you know how I might accomplish this?

Thank you,

Merri

Genevieve P.

Hi @Merri Jones

Yes! You can have multiple contacts listed in the Contact field and Dynamic View will filter by if the user who is looking at the View is one of the contacts selected.

For your second question, a Dynamic View can only be restricted by one Contact Column if you're using the "Restrict view by current user" option. You would need to have a column on the sheet that has all of your contacts selected in one cell in order for it to show that row to every contact.

There currently isn't a formula that could combine contacts into one cell. If you don't want to manually add them to the cell, you could create separate Views per Column and have all of your views visible on a Dashboard at the same time.

Cheers,

Genevieve

Ann Hannan

Hello again, @Genevieve P. !

I think my current issue is similar to that of those asked in this thread.

From the thread, it is clear that:

1. "Restrict to User" works if emails are collected in a Contact column. And I think I figured out that multiple emails need to be separated with a comma.
2. In addition to Restricting based on the email in the column, the Dynamic View ALSO needs to be shared with the User or possible users.

The difficulty that this presents is if you are planning to collect form data from users that may not be known to you when the form link is shared, then you have no way to add them as users to the sheet. The functionality works to restrict what data is presented, but until you can add their email, after it is known to you, they will not be able to access the view at all.

Using a form to collect external project submissions, my plan was to provide the link to the Dynamic View in the confirmation of the form submission as well as in the body of the form. However, if the user is submitting the form for their first time, and I did not anticipate their submission, then there appears to be no way for me to configure the Dynamic View to provide them access before I am able to receive their submission and see that they are accounted for in the Sharing of the view.

Do you have any ideas for workaround here? I can only think of the following:

1. Wait to send them them the link to the Dynamic View until I am able to 'process' their submission and add them to the sheet.
2. Find some way to automatically add any email address entered into the Contact column to a list or contact group which then updates the Dynamic View sharing automatically? Beyond my skills, but trying to think creatively.

Appreciate any help you can offer. This is one of the primary reasons we just purchased Dynamic View.

Thanks,

Ann

Genevieve P.

Hi @Ann Hannan

You are correct that to show users your Dynamic View they would need to be shared to that View. It then uses the email address of the user logging in to identify what rows to Show or Hide.

If you don't know the emails that will need to be shared, is there a consistent domain you could share it to instead?

Otherwise, yes, you would need to add the email to the sharing list after the submission, when you've collected that information. (Note: this would be the sharing list of the Dynamic View, not of the sheet).