How to edit an existing row through a Smartsheet Form (Not an update request)
We have an automation that pops up a smartsheet form for our sales agents. They speak with customers multple times. We'd like to use the form to edit existing rows (Not create new rows).
The Update Request Workflow solution does not work for our specific use case.
Is there any way to accomplish this?
Answers
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@Thomas Lince I don't believe this is possible.
A potential solution would be to have 2 sheets - the first being a "Customers Sheet" and the second being a "Customer Interaction Sheet".
As long as the Customers Sheet has a unique reference for each customer, and this reference is one of the columns captured in the Customer Interaction Sheet, then you can use functions like Index/Match and Join/Collect to populate the Customer Sheet with ongoing interactions.
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I have the same issue. We currently have a job sheet. We would like the form that fills this out to be able to update the pre-existing row (Current Job#) the job is on. Currently, it just creates new rows (New Jobs with new Job #'s). This is isn't practical. Ideally what we would like to happen is; Our PMs would open the form, show a field where you can type in a job# (a row that already exists on the Master Sheet), then update information based on what is currently happening with that job (on that row).
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May I ask why the Update Request automation is not working for you?
What is the issue with using it?
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@Debbie Sawyer Because the agents fill out the form as they speak with prospects and in order to help them with that we leverage some of the form's features like the field's label and help text and conditional logic. We also prepopulate hidden fields with a webhook that uses variables from our phone system's contact manager.
This allows them to have partially prefilled form that automatically pops when a call gets connected and use it to follow the different paths a conversation can take (with the conditional logic). The field's label and help text help them with disclaimers and script one liners that are readily available as they fill out the form.
The update request email gives us none of the flexibility that the form does, and the time it would take for it to be available to the agent would be too long compared to the webhook automation we have that takes half a second.
Hope that answers your question!
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@Thomas Lince Great Answer!! haha
I agree, you wouldn't get that level of functionality from an update request!
I have had a chat with my colleague @James Harris and we believe we could help you with a bit of WebForm technology.
Fundamentally we could design you a webform (external to Smartsheet) with all the labels, help text, conditional logic that you enjoy with Smartsheet's initial form but our webform could pick up data from the smartsheet row and pre-populate some of the form, where your agents can then pick up and work through the next fields with. On submission of the form the data would update the initial row in Smartsheet.
If you wanted to explore this option with us, please do reach out to either myself debbie.sawyer@smarterbusinessprocesses.com or J.harris@smarterbusinessprocesses.com and we'd be more than happy to discuss your requirements.
Kind regards
Debbie
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I am in the same exact place as Thomas (I should say again, as I have limited by this before). My use case is the same as his. I have really leveraged the section headers, conditional logical and single select, multi-select, date picker in the form. I use it to capture customer needs which evolve during our requirements gather phase. The most logical to do would be to use the same form I CREATED the record with to EDIT the record. is this in your roadmap? As is I have he one default edit form which has none of the section headers or conditional logic. Given that I have question that based on the answer I will ask one of three follow ups, it will not be clear to the user with the stripped basic edit form, if and when they should ask which follow up question.
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Hi Caitlin
Within Core Smartsheet it is still not possible to apply conditional logic to a form that UPDATES a row. There is an update request feature that allows an update to a row through the use of a form, but it isn't customisable.
Following on from Thomas' post above we have had a few members of the community get in touch with us to see how we can help with Webform technology interacting with a Smartsheet data structure and interface. This has been really successful for those clients. (See here for a case study describing one of those clients https://smarterbusinessprocesses.com/smartsheet-helps-the-sony-hr-team-turn-up-the-volume/)
SBP are running a webinar on Smartsheet Forms next Wednesday 21st July at 16:00 BST. We will be demonstrating the Forms functionality (that you have already explored) but we will also be demonstrating James' webform's to show how we can build on Smartsheets Core offering to enhance the user experience. To sign up for our webinar (which is always free!) please use this form: https://app.smartsheet.com/b/form/9fca8a27912e4fd39dc058603e69c49f
Hope this inspires a little hope that you can have what you want! 🤩
Kind regards
Debbie
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I think out of the hundreds of responses from multiple sites forums, communities, YouTube - people do not want to spend time scrolling across rows to edit information. During discussion meetings concerning data from intake forms, sometimes you don't want to e-mail an update form because you want to look at it through a form and edit it on the spot. For the same simple logic that entering data into a form is easier than populating rows - editing them should be just as simple. Forms allow end users the ability to understand the column titles by utilizing labels and and provides a one stop place to make changes to a row. I want to click on a link in the column "Form" where I can pull up a form to edit the row contents. Not having this feature and seeing hundreds of requests for it - I feel like it should have been addressed in 2018 when those questions started appearing. Not everyone wants to wait for an e-mail response or uses e-mail approval during project or workflow discussions. Even access 98 edition - business solutions knew updating records within record/sheet lists was cumbersome and dangerous. A form secures the row for editing and limits mistakes. Look up "Add form to edit row in Smartsheet" and there will be thousands of results. I have spent a month trying to find work-arounds and by this time I could have built the solution by hand.
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Thank you for your comment Melody. As a Smartsheet consultant, I often ask clients to explain why the core product doesn't meet their need so that I can better guide them to a positive outcome. My question in this thread (which you have commented on) was trying to determine the use case for requiring an editable form. You can see from the rest of the thread that Thomas did indeed justify why an update request didn't work for him and we did indeed have further discussions on how we could help him meet his needs.
We have had many clients come to us at SBP for our Smarter Controls 4 Smartsheet, we have a great solution within that suite which allows data from a Smartsheet to be displayed in a form and edited through a dashboard. If you are interested in this you are more than welcome to contact us and see a demo of this working. We also have a case study on our website where we designed set of editable update forms for Sony, which was a direct enquiry from this thread!
Please be rest assured I understand the "pain" that not having an editable form brings, I'd be more than happy to help you find a solution to your Smartsheet pains too! Feel free to contact me.
Kind regards
Debbie
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@Thomas Lince have you tried using Dynamic View? It sounds like this would work for your use case. Your sales agents would be able to create new rows using a form format as well as edit existing rows. You could even limit their view of the information to only items assigned to the "current user" if that was necessary. Field labels, help text, form logic, required, view only and editable fields are all options with Dynamic View.
It's been a game changer for our company!
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I have a nice Smartsheet / Zapier work around. If anyone wants to know how it works let me know. It is a little complicated to explain but it is tested. haugemarc@gmail.com
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Here it is:
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@Debbie Sawyer I have the same issue and would like to learn more about your solution. Up until now, I've been using Dynamic Views to work around the issue but our licensing no longer accommodates Dynamic Views.
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Thank you for the tag.
Since this thread and the Sony Case Study, we have made Smarter Forms part of our Smarter Controls 4 sheets suite of apps.
It is a webform that sits in web browser and allows you to collect data (new record), load up an existing record and continue to collect data, or load up an existing record allowing you to edit data already saved. All through the form view. Not only that but this form widget can also offer PROPER conditional logic between dropdown list values. I.e. restrict the values from list B based on the choice selected in list A.
To find out a little more about Smarter Forms, follow this link to our website and scroll down to the advanced apps section, there is a PDF explainer sheet there. If you'd like a demonstration of the forms, then please reach out to me (my email address is in my profile page) and I'd be more than happy to demonstrate the form and discuss your use case.
Kind regards
Debbie
