Update Requests - Send one email for multiple rows of requests?

Blake Gonzalez

Hello, I would like to know if there is a way to send a single email for multiple rows' worth of update requests for a single user, instead of individual emails for each row requesting an update.

In the interest of not spamming the project participants, this would be extremely useful.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Blake Gonzalez

Yes, this is possible!

One way to do this is to set up your Update Request to be a time-based workflow (see here). In this type of workflow, the workflow will be triggered at the same time for all of the rows in your sheet that meet the conditions you set, and this then only triggers a single email. You can create a custom recurrence for this to send out either once a day or once a week, depending on what you want to do.

Users who receive the update request can navigate between the rows with arrows shown on the bottom on the request form. 

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @Blake Gonzalez

Yes, this is possible!

One way to do this is to set up your Update Request to be a time-based workflow (see here). In this type of workflow, the workflow will be triggered at the same time for all of the rows in your sheet that meet the conditions you set, and this then only triggers a single email. You can create a custom recurrence for this to send out either once a day or once a week, depending on what you want to do.

Users who receive the update request can navigate between the rows with arrows shown on the bottom on the request form. 

I hope this helps!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Blake Gonzalez

Thank you!

David_S

@Genevieve P.

I am experiencing the same problem. I've created a workflow that will perform an date/time scheduled update request to email addresses in a contact column. When I test it, I am getting individual emails per row instead of one email with a list of rows.

The odd thing is that I have a separate test sheet i've created a while ago and that works perfectly fine.

Any idea what is causing this?

Genevieve P.

Hi @David_S

Do you have any placeholders in your custom text? Ex: {{Column Name}}

"When using placeholders with Alert or Update Request actions in change-based workflows, placeholders generate separate notifications if six or fewer rows are triggered simultaneously. If seven or more rows are triggered at once, the custom subject and body are removed."

See: Customize the Content of Your Alerts and Requests

Let me know if this was the cause or not!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Toby W

@Genevieve P. Is there a way to send multiple rows to contacts, via workflow, for approval within one email.

Example:

I have 6 employees who have multiple individuals who work for them. I need the employee reports to be confirmed by the supervisors every quarter to ensure all these individuals are still active. When i tried to set up a workflow, it sent out every row separately for approval. I just need the individual to receive their specific employees, all in one sheet, where they can approve or deny (and then provide an update).

Thanks for your help!

Genevieve P.

Hi @Toby W

Approval Request type of alerts will send out individually, as each individual row would need to be approved via email.

However if these collaborators have access to Smartsheet, and you have a column identifying their contact on their own rows, then I would suggest either having a "Current User" filter set up on this sheet or a Report built from the sheet filtering by Current User. That way you can send out one email reminder with a link to either the filtered sheet URL or the Report, so when they click the link they're taken to all of their rows at once.

Let me know if this makes sense or if you'd like to see screen captures to explain further.

Cheers,

Genevieve

Toby W

Hi @Genevieve P. - Okay so i created my report which has ALL data I'd like to share. What I'm trying to do now is publish a link that when the individual clicks on the link, it only shows their data and then they can check a box for approval or changes. But I'm having a hard time getting it so that only individuals in the "owner" column are able to see their own items and not everything. Thoughts?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Toby W

Two steps:

1 - Set a Filter on the Report that filters by the "Current User" in the "Owner" column.

(Filter > select "Owner" column > Is One Of > Current User)

2 - Then the link you send out would need to be the direct URL to the Report, versus a Published link. Keep in mind that your shared users would need to be shared to the underlying sheet as well as the Report to see their rows.

Let me know if this works for you, now!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Toby W

Thanks @Genevieve P. -

So if I have individuals that are not smartsheet licensed or users, is there a way to utilized this similar set up? Youve been a tremendous help! Thank you

Genevieve P.

Hi @Toby W

If they don't have a Smartsheet login and they're not shared to the sheet, then in this instance you would need to use Approval or Update requests (as you were before) as individual emails.

Keep in mind that your collaborators don't have to have a license or even be a part of your plan to create a login (a free account) and view a sheet shared to them.

So I would say you have two options here:

1) Individual emails to users who don't need to know anything about Smartsheet at all.

2) One email with a link where users log in to Smartsheet on a free account to view all of their rows needing updates (with access to view all rows, if they wanted to).

jowett_matt

@Genevieve P.

I am trying to set up a quarterly update request to a team, some of whom will have 10+ items to respond to. The automated workflow handles this well, but I don't like the format of one email being sent out with an illegible set of 50 columns and 10+ rows; when the "open update" form clicked, the portrait layout/format is very clear, but from what I can see the user has to scroll through and update each request page before they can submit i.e. they have to do all of the updates in order to submit. If they want to do 3-4, then complete the others later or the next day this cannot be done.

Ideally, I want an individual email sending out, with the portrait format, for each of the 10+ requests. Is this possible?

Thanks, Matt

Genevieve P.

Hi @jowett_matt

My apologies for the delay!

You are correct that when 7+ Update Requests are triggered at the same time, even if you have Placeholders in the body of your email, Update Requests will group them together in one email so the Form contains all rows that need to be updated at once.

One thing I would suggest doing is cleaning up how many columns are shown in that request. If you select "Sheet link and specific fields" you can simplify the information sent out.

In regards to sending individual emails, we would need to be able to split up your number of rows per-person so that it's 6 or less in each grouping. For example, you could have 3 Update Request workflows but with different conditions in the middle using a column in your sheet to sort out the 3 Categories. Then if you use Placeholders, this should split up your emails to show individual rows. See: Customize the Content of Your Alerts and Requests

An alternative would be to send the link to the Filtered Report as I suggested above so they can create their updates directly in Smartsheet in one view.

Cheers,

Genevieve