Dynamic Dropdown Lists

Marcus Cowan

Hello everyone!

I am looking to build a Smartsheet that has 2 dropdown lists that are "linked" together, meaning that when a user selects a dropdown value from a cell in Column A, the adjacent cell in Column B (that also has a dropdown list) will present a filtered list of values to the user -- and those filtered values will be based on the selection that was made in Column A -- in other words, dynamic dropdown lists! I have searched the topic, but was not able to find a solution. Any assistance or guidance would be appreciated! Thanks in advance. 😀

James Keuning

That would be pretty amazing. And also pretty low-hanging fruit for a table-based data management system. But no, Smartsheet cannot do that natively.

I am partly answering this so that someone can come tell me that I am wrong, because that would be awesome!

Cody Holmes

You would have to do this through the API unfortunately. Here's some sample code to do it via Python and the Smartsheet API client...

Smartsheet Dynamic Dropdowns.pdf

Umesh Shah

I learned that this functionality was on the roadmap to be delivered in 2022, but got dropped. unclear why, but you should contact your customer success manager to ask why.

NunYobibzzness

I'm new to smartsheet. How do I include a dropdown in a form? I'm looking for something simple, not cascading/conditional. Just want to help me sort responses.

Genevieve P.

Hi @NunYobibzzness

Form Fields each relate to a column in the underlying sheet. This means that if you want a drop-down field in your Form, you can either create the drop-down column in the sheet (see here), or you can add a new column directly from within the form by clicking "New Field":

See: Edit or Remove Fields in a Form

Cheers,

Genevieve

mbsamuel6

@Genevieve P.

Hi,

To follow this question up has anyone came up with any sort of work around for this? I have similar issue I'm facing where the user would like drop down lists to be populated based on previous the user's name in a form.

So think of it like the Google Autofill option. Where I open up a smartsheet form, select my name in the name dropdown. Once my name is selected, in the "Assignments" field, the dropdown would only show assignments that I previously worked on or currently assigned to me. This info would be coming from another sheet.

Since dynamic drop downs isn't a thing, is there a work around that you could think of?

Thank you!

Genevieve P.

Hi @mbsamuel6

What you're describing sounds like Dynamic View. This is an add-on that your plan may have purchased that works with the core Smartsheet application. It can surface up all rows that are specifically assigned to a Contact (without showing the other rows) and, if you enable this, allow a user to add new rows from a panel on the right at the same time as looking at their current assignments.

Here's more information:

https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/integrations-and-add-ons/dynamic-view

Cheers,

Genevieve

Matt Suderman

SHOCKED that this hasn't been incorporated yet.

Stephen Andreasen

I was looking to see if this enhancement was in place but based on the latest comments, it does not seem like it has. I am facing this same issue where I want to basically have a dropdown read from a range of values in another sheet so I don't have to keep manually updating this dropdown list every time a new value is introduced. This is becoming a systematic pain.

James Fischer

One way I typically do this is by using data shuttle. I offload the column I want to use for dropdowns as an excel file and attach it to the sheet where the source data live. Then, I create an upload for the sheets (1 per sheet) where I want that excel file list pulled in as an update to my dropdown field. It means that every grid where you use the dropdown upload will require another upload setup in Data Shuttle, but it's not too bad to setup...1-2 min. You can then set the offloads to run based on schedule or manually, and the subsequent upload can run anytime the source excel file list changes. I use this as my team populate projects they are working on. They submit a form intake with the project data, and the name is integrated into a "project list" offload->upload anywhere people need the list of projects (like maybe on a PO tracking sheet).

Danielle Wilson

I agree with @James Fischer! There's a very short help article that walks through the process exactly as he's outlined it https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2482755-dynamic-dropdowns-data-shuttle