Create Weekly Alert on a Dashboard

ygoldgrab · 03/17/21

Hi, I want my Dashboard to display a specific message every Monday and a different one every Thursday.

I tried searching the community but didn't find anything.

I used the following solution. Is this correct? It seems to work. Any other idea? Thanks

I created this on a metric sheet=IF(WEEKDAY(TODAY()) = 2, "Remember the ....", IF(WEEKDAY(TODAY()) = 4, "Remember ....", "")).

The problem was that I wanted to highlight this area on the dashboard only if there was text.

I used conditional formatting on the metric sheet to highlight the cell if it contained "Remember" and used "use cell formatting" in the widget

Andrée Starå · 03/17/21

@ygoldgrab

Yes, at a glance, it should work.

Unfortunately, I can't think of a way for the user to hide the alert, but it's an excellent idea!

Please submit an Enhancement Request when you have a moment

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mzpjames · 04/13/24

I know this question is a bit old, but I was also looking for a way to display messages on my Dashboards, couldn't find anything, so I created one. Here is how I did it:

Create a "Dashboard Messages" Sheet:

Each message to display is a single row. You can have multiple messages at the same time.

MsgID - Auto-generated by Smartsheet.
Message - Enter your message here and format it as you want it to appear for the users.
Active? - This is the main switch to make the Message active or not. The message admin controls this field. This allows them to selectively decide when a message should be activated without having to delete the message.
Priority - Determines the order in which the messages are sorted when displayed to the user (if there are multiple). This is controlled by the message admin.
Begin Showing / End Showing - This is the span of dates during which the message should be displayed. This allows you to set a message to show in the future. Or, allows you to sunset a message based on dates.
Show on DOW - Determines which Days Of The Week on which the message should display (just select all days to have it show every day).

*Note: The "red box" surrounds columns that I specifically added because I wanted to add the ability to show certain messages to certain users, and to give the users the ability to "Hide" a message after they viewed it. The columns are OPTIONAL.

Show To Users - This is a multi-select Contact list so the message admin can pick which users should see the message.
Allow User To Hide? - This determines if the user can "Hide" the message or not. This is enforced using a workflow on this sheet that simply un-checks the "Hide" checkbox if the user checks it.
Generate User Rows - This is a toggle that triggers a Python script that I wrote that will populate the (optional) "Dashboard Messages - by User" sheet.

On the right, there are some columns that are automatically filled using formulas:

OK To Show? - This column encapsulates all of the "should I display this message" logic.
=IF(AND([Dates Passed?]@row = false, [Active?]@row = true, [OK DOW?]@row = true), true, false)
Dates Passed? - This column determines if Today is within the date range given for the message to display.
=IF(TODAY() > [End Showing]@row, true, false)
Today DOW - This column contains a formula that shows the DOW for "Today".
=IFERROR(IF(WEEKDAY(TODAY()) = 1, "Sun", IF(WEEKDAY(TODAY()) = 2, "Mon", IF(WEEKDAY(TODAY()) = 3, "Tue", IF(WEEKDAY(TODAY()) = 4, "Wed", IF(WEEKDAY(TODAY()) = 5, "Thu", IF(WEEKDAY(TODAY()) = 6, "Fri", IF(WEEKDAY(TODAY()) = 7, "Sat"))))))), "")
OK DOW? - This column contains a formula that determines if the DOW for "Today" is in the list of "Show on DOW".
=IF(HAS([Show on DOW]@row, [Today DOW]@row), true, false)

I created a "Dashboard Messages - by User" sheet: (OPTIONAL)

This sheet is auto-filled by Python code using the Smartsheet API (Zapier or other tools could be used) (For small user groups, this could even be manually maintained).

All of the columns in this sheet are cell-linked back to the "Dashboard Messages" table, with the exception of:

User - The name (contact) of the user that should see the message.

Hide? - Checkbox to allow the user to "hide" the message after they have seen it.

Created, Created By, Modified, and Modified By are automatically maintained Smartsheet columns. I use these to see if the user "hid" the message and how it got created (manually or by API).

I created a "Dashboard Messages Report" (that is placed on the Dashboards):

It Filters the messages by "Current User" (Optional), If the user has already hidden it (Optional), and the "OK To Show" column.

The messages are Sorted by Priority and Message content.

SAMPLE Dashboards showing Messages:

Input Form:

Andrée Starå · 03/17/21

Hi @ygoldgrab

I hope you're well and safe!

Can you describe your process in more detail and maybe share the sheet(s)/copies of the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too, andree@workbold.com)

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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ygoldgrab · 03/17/21

Thanks, Really, I just wanted to display a simple alert (highlighted text) to our company on our dashboard every Monday. -- And the rest of the days it should be blank.

Question was, if anyone had any ideas how to go about doing this.

ygoldgrab · 03/17/21

Also, would there be a way for the user to hit an x and close/hide the alert?

Andrée Starå · 03/17/21