Overwriting

Heather Simmons

From what I understand, Smartsheet is a tool that can be used for collaborating...at least that is what my team uses it for on multiple occasions. We recently ran into a problem. Several of us will be working in the same Smartsheet at the same time...at times in the same cell. When this happens, one person ends up overwriting what another is adding. How can we avoid this? Is there a setting that we need to click on or a rule to create so that multiple users can add information to the same cell at the same time?

Mark Cronk

Hi @Heather Simmons ,

Smartsheet is a great collaboration tool. However overwriting is possible if more than 1 person is editing a record simultaneously. Smartsheet will record the last save, but the input overwritten will be visible in the cell history.

Preventing this needs to be procedural with your users. Can you develop a process that avoids 2 people working on the same record at the same time? Train your staff to save and refresh frequently so they are always seeing the most recent data and their work is being posted quickly. Add a checkbox column, [In Process]. When someone starts working on that record the first thing the do is check the [in Process] box, save and refresh. When they are done with their edits they unchecked the box, save and redresh. That way others know not to work on the record if the [in process] box is checked. I'm sure others in the community have developed techniques too. I'm curious to see what they are doing.

Help?

Mark

Lynna

If more than one person working on the sheet at the same time, each person working on different rows on the same sheet. When they save, do they just save the rows they work on or the whole sheet ?