forms layout and customization

Jim Tavolaro

Hi there, I have a number of frustrations with how forms are available....

1. Is there any way to modify the Edit form that opens when you doubleclick on an item in card view, e.g. not display every field on the form?
2. Can this Edit form be called without opening the smartsheet?
3. For both the Edit form and the Input form, will there be any option to modify the layout e.g. field width, multiple field placements on a line? What about calculated fields? What about all the screen real estate that is wasted?
4. Why can't I select text on the forms and copy?
5. Will there be any feature some day that would allow rules that autofill a field based on other field values?

Genevieve P.

Hello @Jim Tavolaro

It sounds like you're talking about the pop-up window that shows the Row when you double-click on a Card, versus a Smartsheet Form. I've answered each point below with that assumption in mind, but if I misunderstood any of your questions please let me know!

1 . The pop-up that appears when using Card View currently shows all fields available for that row (as if you're seeing the whole row in Grid View). There is currently no way to customize this view and limit the fields seen, although you can limit what is able to be edited by locking columns in the Grid.

Additionally, the order in which the fields appear reflect the order of the columns in Grid View, so you may want to adjust the Grid of the sheet to have the less-relevant columns to the very far right. Those fields will then appear at the bottom of the pop-up window, so they're less visible.

2 . The pop-up window is essentially just the full row associated with this card. This means that Yes! You can send the row to a user for them to update via email without opening the Smartsheet application.

To do so, you would want to send an Update Request to that user. You can either send Update Requests manually or create a workflow to send it out based on a trigger (such as a date or a change in the sheet). You also can configure Update Requests to only show certain fields instead of showing the whole row. Please see our Help Center for more information, here!

3 . The way that the pop-up displays is unable to be configured (ex. multiple fields on one line). Card View is currently set up to show all fields as a menu with fields one-by-one in order, top-to-bottom.

4 . I'm not sure what text you are referring to, would you mind clarifying or providing a screen capture? You should be able to select & copy text if it is text that was entered into a field.

Field Names in Card View can't be copied as these are Column Names, which need to be edited from Grid View. If you change over to Grid, then double click on a column name, it will open up the Properties window for that column. From here you can copy the text! (Read more about Column Names here.)

5 . Yes! You can set up a formula in the Grid View to auto-fill one field based on another. It's likely you'd use an IF statement (such as IF this field says"This", return "That"):

=IF([This Field]@row = "This", "That")

Users in the Community are continually building great formulas. If you have an example of what you'd like to automate, I'm sure can help you come up with a solution. Keep in mind that you can either have a formula in a column or you can manually enter information, however you can't do both. If a cell contains a formula and then you manually type something into it, this will erase the underlying formula. You would want to set up your formula to return all possible outcomes so the column is entirely automated, does this make sense? (Learn more about formulas here.)

Resources:

• It sounds like you're primarily working in Card View. I would suggest reviewing the information in the videos and articles from our Help Center, here, that are specific to Card View.
• Here's an article on the different Views of a sheet.
• It's great to hear your suggestions/feedback for what you'd like to see in Card View! You can submit your feedback and contact our Product Team about updates that would be helpful for you by filling out this form, here.

Finally, if I've misunderstood any of your points above, it would be very helpful to see screen captures of what you're experiencing, but please block out sensitive data.

Cheers!

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hello @Jim Tavolaro

It sounds like you're talking about the pop-up window that shows the Row when you double-click on a Card, versus a Smartsheet Form. I've answered each point below with that assumption in mind, but if I misunderstood any of your questions please let me know!

1 . The pop-up that appears when using Card View currently shows all fields available for that row (as if you're seeing the whole row in Grid View). There is currently no way to customize this view and limit the fields seen, although you can limit what is able to be edited by locking columns in the Grid.

Additionally, the order in which the fields appear reflect the order of the columns in Grid View, so you may want to adjust the Grid of the sheet to have the less-relevant columns to the very far right. Those fields will then appear at the bottom of the pop-up window, so they're less visible.

2 . The pop-up window is essentially just the full row associated with this card. This means that Yes! You can send the row to a user for them to update via email without opening the Smartsheet application.

To do so, you would want to send an Update Request to that user. You can either send Update Requests manually or create a workflow to send it out based on a trigger (such as a date or a change in the sheet). You also can configure Update Requests to only show certain fields instead of showing the whole row. Please see our Help Center for more information, here!

3 . The way that the pop-up displays is unable to be configured (ex. multiple fields on one line). Card View is currently set up to show all fields as a menu with fields one-by-one in order, top-to-bottom.

4 . I'm not sure what text you are referring to, would you mind clarifying or providing a screen capture? You should be able to select & copy text if it is text that was entered into a field.

Field Names in Card View can't be copied as these are Column Names, which need to be edited from Grid View. If you change over to Grid, then double click on a column name, it will open up the Properties window for that column. From here you can copy the text! (Read more about Column Names here.)

5 . Yes! You can set up a formula in the Grid View to auto-fill one field based on another. It's likely you'd use an IF statement (such as IF this field says"This", return "That"):

=IF([This Field]@row = "This", "That")

Users in the Community are continually building great formulas. If you have an example of what you'd like to automate, I'm sure can help you come up with a solution. Keep in mind that you can either have a formula in a column or you can manually enter information, however you can't do both. If a cell contains a formula and then you manually type something into it, this will erase the underlying formula. You would want to set up your formula to return all possible outcomes so the column is entirely automated, does this make sense? (Learn more about formulas here.)

Resources:

• It sounds like you're primarily working in Card View. I would suggest reviewing the information in the videos and articles from our Help Center, here, that are specific to Card View.
• Here's an article on the different Views of a sheet.
• It's great to hear your suggestions/feedback for what you'd like to see in Card View! You can submit your feedback and contact our Product Team about updates that would be helpful for you by filling out this form, here.

Finally, if I've misunderstood any of your points above, it would be very helpful to see screen captures of what you're experiencing, but please block out sensitive data.

Cheers!

Genevieve