Workflow - Option to Add a Comment

Laura

We have a workflow set up that can either be Approved or Declined. However, if Declined we need an automated option for the user to comment why its declined.

Any suggestions on how to do this? (Besides a separate email to request an update to comment on a row. The goal is to have this all in one step if possible)

Paul Newcome

You could replace the Approval Request with an Update Request.

Laura

@Paul Newcome That would send a separate email once the declined was triggered, right? I'm looking for something with one step select decline + add note/comment.

Genevieve P.

Hi @Laura

If you include " A Comment" as one of the fields in the Approval workflow then you would be able to leave a note:

In the form:

Keep in mind that this comment will appear as a comment on the row, versus in a specific column.

Is this what you were looking to do?

Cheers!

Genevieve

Laura

@Genevieve P This is close to what I'm looking for. Can I mirror a comment to show up in a column?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Laura

No, it would be housed only in the comments section.

Otherwise, you'll want to do what @Paul Newcome suggested above, where you replace your current Approval workflow with an Update Request, updating the Approval Column and the Comment Column at the same time.

Laura

Thanks for the feedback @Paul Newcome & @Genevieve P. I'm going to do a few tests and see if I can get these features to do what we're looking for.

Laura

I'm hesitant about using the smartsheet comment column because unfortunately people tend to overlook that area.

The only issue I'm encountering with doing an Update Request instead of an Approval Request is now the column where the approval goes is not automatically showing "Submitted"

Any Suggestions?

Genevieve P.

Hi @Laura

Update Requests don't automatically change the approval submission status in the same way that an Approval Request does.

We could potentially have a separate helper column and write a formula in that column to automate different statuses, but it would need something to reference in order to know when to change. What is the trigger for the update being sent?

Laura

@Genevieve P Once the first approval column has been decided, the second approval is sent but since we're changing the second from approval to update request, we still need a way for the column to reflect that the update request has been sent. A formula should work! Thank you!!

Paul Newcome

You could set your trigger for the second one to be when the column for the first one changes to either "Approved" or "Declined".