Personalized user authorization for one cell, and date recording

Jason Ottavi

Hi all,

 

I have a couple questions for all the Smartsheet pros out there!

 

I'm working on a sheet and I would like my team members to be able to update its content.

The first problem is that I would like them to be able to edit only some columns and rows, depending on their responsabilities in the project. I mean that each user would be able to edit some specified cells, but the rest of the sheet would appear all locked to him/her.

 

Second problem is that I would like to record the date when certain modifications are made on the sheet. For example, when a user updates the content of a particular cell, the date is automatically recorded and saved in an other cell.

 

Any help regarding those points would be really appreciated!

 

Best,

 

Jason

 

Ahmed Samy

hi
for your fist question you can add people as editor only and lock some cells if you want .

for the second :
for every change of modification to any cell you get notification for this you can manage this modify to be every 1 day or more .

ABM

Re: 2 - I believe you can add a column & choose auto number/system. There's couple of options which include Modified Date & Modified by.

J. Craig Williams

Jason,

 

re: Permssions

There isn't a way to give specific users specific row or column permissions.

All Editors will have the same editor privileges throughout the sheet.

If Ed-1 can see and edit the cell, so can Ed-2.

 

If the users are view only, you might consider Publishing the sheet.

Reports allow user to see the underlying sheet, which does not work in all use cases.

 

re: modification date

There is a System type column for Modified (Date) that will show the last time the row was modified. Add a new column and select the column type. It will auto-populate.

There is also ones for who (Modified By) and the same pair for when the row was created.

The Modified (Date/By) columns will capture any changes to a cell in the row including adding a new column (affects all rows). It does not capture formatting only changes, Discussions, or Attachments. If you have a specific use case, check the results first to see that you are getting what you want.

Each cell also has a "Version History" but there is no way to see the information outside of the GUI except via the cell menu (right-click on the cell)

 

Hope this helps.

Craig

 

Jason Ottavi

Thanks Craig and ABM!

 

1- Ok, it is a pity that one can't manage the permissions in a more customable way, like it is possible with Google Spreadsheets. Maybe it is planned for a future update?

 

2- And ok, thanks, I will try and explore this "auto number/system" function.

 

Best,

 

Jason

Jason Ottavi

PS: For problem 1, I may have found a way to "customize" the permissions to edit the sheet. All my team members would be viewers, so they could see the whole sheet. When they are requested to edit some content, the owner or any admin of the sheet sends them an "update request" or a form, directing their answers to some specific cells. So they can have a one-time access to a set of cells. It is not very handy, but I think it'll do!

 

To be continued...

 

Jason

Jason Ottavi

Thank you Ahmed!

 

1- Actually I know it. What I would like to do is locking certain cells only for SPECIFIC users. For example, let's consider cell A and cell B and User 1 and User 2. User 1 would be able to edit cell A but not cell B, and User 2 would be able to edit cell B but not cell A, etc...

2- Yes I know that too, but is there a way to automatically write the date in a specific cell on the sheet? The goal is to make a timestamp that all the viewers can see. Maybe there's some formula for this, but I didn't find any.

 

Best,

 

Jason