is it possible to block a row from being deleted while allowing edit to specific cells in that row?

I need to prevent rows from being deleted while allowing edit to specific cells (or as a bigger challenge, once a row has been added, only specific users should be able to delete, or somesuch.

If I lock a column (and leave others unlocked) and leave rows unlocked, unlocked columns (OK) can be edited but specific rows can also be deleted (NOK).

If I lock a row, no more cells can be modified (NOK), but also row cannot be deleted anymore (OK).

Any idea?

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Accepted answers

Stefan

Hi @Michael Bull,

difficult as you want to combine "watch only" with "editing" on a per column level.

There is a very efficient but expensive solution to that, the premium add-on Dynamic View:

https://www.smartsheet.com/marketplace/premium-apps/dynamic-view

Another option would be to use update requests for the people who possibly delete rows. What do you think, will that help you out?

Greetings

Stefan

All comments

Stefan

Hi @Michael Bull,

difficult as you want to combine "watch only" with "editing" on a per column level.

There is a very efficient but expensive solution to that, the premium add-on Dynamic View:

https://www.smartsheet.com/marketplace/premium-apps/dynamic-view

Another option would be to use update requests for the people who possibly delete rows. What do you think, will that help you out?

Greetings

Stefan

Michael Bull

Thank you for response.

I was also thinking to allow editing only through a report not the actual sheet (by select sharing) but that is clunky because in the report you do not get the conditional formatting and other formula based update until saving the report (loss of the already spotty realtime updates)

There are a few things that simply do not work in smartsheet which work easy in Excel (i used to like Smartsheet, then I hated it, now I learn to live with the limitations)

selective limiting editing in Excel
variable single-selection variable drop downs in Excel

None of this appears rocket science to program in Smartsheet application (and for sure not requiring a very premium upgrade) .

Stefan

Hi @Michael Bull,

well, every app has it's limitations. For me already Smartsheet collaboration features rule out Excel, let alone the ease of use.

Anyway, limitations sometimes are good if we get to think abut other and in the end sometimes better ways to achieve what we need to do.

So, did you think about using update requests? They will show all the sheet data and formatting etc.

You may also be interested in a little Dropdown add-on from a British company:

https://www.smarterbusinessprocesses.com/smartercontrols4smartsheet-dropdown-list-manager-c/

I'm not in any way affiliated with them, but think they are doing a good job.

Hope this helps

Stefan

Brad Jones

@Michael Bull

Please see Community post https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/37871/deleted-rows

You can submit an Enhancement Request - but as this fix does not generate revenue expect Smartsheet to continue to ignore it. 6 years and counting.

Scott Maselli

Smartsheet team,

Clearly there have been multiple requests to 'prevent users from deleting rows, but allow them to edit the content'. As I've read, it's been at least 6 years since the initial request was submitted to Smartsheets. Can someone please move it up on the priority list?

This is impacting our projects where we have over 1000 users who we can't prevent from deleting rows on sheets by accident or on purpose. I've read through the other suggestions and they are either not fit for purpose or require additional investing of time and money which seem counterintuitive when a program change could be made to enable this request.

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