Dashboards - Linking to Attachments in a Sheet

alwayslearning

I downloaded the template set for Policy Governance and Rollout. There is a SHEET called "Policy Governance Inventory," which has great information for tracking policies, their status, etc. The attachment column is great for easy access to each published policy.

There is also a Dashboard included in the template set. The Dashboard organizes the policies nicely into pillars. I can't find a way to link the published policy attached in a row from the Policy Governance Inventory SHEET to the Dashboard. When I try to add a shortcut, I get the options: "Website," "Attachment," "Smartsheet Item."

"Smartsheet Item" only links a full SHEET or report (not an attachment in a SHEET or report).

"Attachment" gives you the option from Google Drive, Box, Dropbox, Evernote, Egnyte, or OneDrive.

Can't I link directly to an attachment in a SHEET?

I noticed that if I click on an attachment in the SHEET, there is an option to send it. It gives a link to the document that expires in 30 days.

It doesn't make sense to have to use an additional external source to link policies already attached in a SHEET to a Smartsheet Dashboard. I must be missing a key piece of using this Policy Governance Template. Can anyone help?

James Keuning

Unless there has been a recent change, you are going to be constrained by the 30 day expiration for linking directly to an attachment, because that link that you reference is the way to link to attachments.

alwayslearning

This is both surprising and disappointing. One of the main reasons we use Smartsheet is the value of keeping specific work in one location. I looked closer at the Dashboard in this template set. The examples all link to a Google Drive.

This means, we have to publish every new and revised policy and save it in two places - one in Smartsheet's row attachment; the other on a Google Drive (or outside source). Not only is this additional work, but it leaves a big opening for errors.

Thank you for your help, James.