Proof comments @mention not working consistently

raven

Just started using proofs to gain stakeholder approval. Some of the approvers are shared to our sheet, many are not. In the comments on the proof, I am unable to @mention all of the invited reviewers. I am only able to @mention SOME of them. We can't have stakeholders outside our team shared to the sheet as it contains confidential information. What am I missing in my understanding of proofs?

While I can't share screenshots as they'd all contain PII, here is a detailed summary of the proof:

• Person who created the proof: shared to sheet as admin.
• Proof current version is 2. Issue occurred on v. 1 and is still occurring on v.2. Reviewers that I cannot @mention were invited to review v.1 and v.2
• Version 2:
  • Invited to review: 8 people - 2 shared to sheet as admins, 1 shared to sheet as editor can share, 5 not shared to sheet.
  • Approved: 3 people - 1 shared to sheet as admin, 1 shared to sheet as editor can share, 1 not shared to sheet. Can @mention all of them in a comment.
  • Requires changes: 0
  • Pending: 5 people - 1 shared to sheet as admin, 4 not shared to sheet. Can @mention the person shared to sheet, and only 2 of the 4 people that aren't shared.

To further complicate this, one of the people (not shared) that I cannot @mention, interacted with the proof version 1 and clicked "require changes" but never showed as such on v.1 (she is listed under pending). We know she clicked "require changes" because the proof owner got an email notification saying as such. Maybe the stakeholder unchecked it after? But still, why can't I @mention her or the other non-shared reviewer?

Genevieve P.

Hi @raven

The @mention feature is specific to the underlying Smartsheet sheet, which means that you won't be able to @mention a user to send them a notification who is not shared to the source sheet, even if they have been invited to view that specific Proof in the Proofing window.

If you open the Proof directly from the row, then @mention someone who isn't shared to the sheet (by typing out their full email after the @ sign), you'll be prompted to give them permissions to see the sheet. (See: Collect feedback without approvals)

If you're reviewing the proof from the separate Proofing Window, you can click on the @ symbol to select a user either from the Sheet Sharing list or from the Invitation list to identify them in the comment. However, if the user you select is just a Reviewer and not shared to the sheet, they won't receive an email notification from this comment, since they're not shared to the underlying sheet.

I know the Product team is always looking for feedback on how Proofing is being used and what enhancements would be helpful in the future; if you have a moment, please fill out this form here to let them know about your use-case and request.

Thanks!

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @raven

I've checked in with the Product team and I was incorrect about my statement above; you should be able to @mention users from the external Proofing Window using the @ symbol in the bottom right, including members you are invited as Proof Reviewers but are not shared to the sheet.

In my own testing I was unable to send out email notifications this way (to users who were not shared to the sheet). Since I can replicate what you're describing, I've submitted a ticket on your behalf with our Support team to escalate this issue. They may reach out to you via email for further questions as we investigate the root cause. Thank you for bringing this to our attention!

Cheers,

Genevieve

raven

@Genevieve P. thanks for the excellent follow up! I was thinking it would need a ticket submitted since I can @mention some users not shared to the sheet, but not all of them. Always good to discover these unexpected behaviors during a pilot/testing phase of a new feature :)

PDunn

@Genevieve Evans has a resolution been provided regarding being able to @mention reviewers in the external proofing window that are not shared with the source sheet? This is a major issue as well for my team. We have a intake sheet that creative jobs are being managed via, but we don't want the requesters to have access to this. We invite them to review proofs via the external proofing window and other reviewers want to @mention those invited and discuss edits, but it doesn't work.

Genevieve P.

Hi @PDunn

After further investigation, the team confirmed that this is actually expected behaviour, as outlined in my first response. There is no support for notifying external collaborators about mentions on the external page, as they're not shared to the sheet.

I do know that work to address notifications to non-shared collaborators will be looked at along with other improvements in the future. Please submit your feature request to the Product team by creating an Idea Post in the Smartsheet Product Feedback and Ideas topic here in the Community. This will allow other users to vote on your enhancement idea!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Neil Egsgard

@raven , @PDunn , @Genevieve P. ,

I did not see an idea request for the Proofing window @mention notification for users not shared to the sheet. I created an idea request.

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/104950/proof-notifications-allow-mention-notifications-on-proofs-to-users-not-shared-to-sheet

Neil Egsgard

Proof mention notification via WorkApps.png

@raven , @PDunn , @Genevieve P. ,

I used WorkApps and was able to send a notification to someone who was not share to the entire sheet. I had to:

1. create a WorkApps
2. add the user to a role
3. setup a report that only showed the records the user was approved to access
4. Add the report to the role
5. Mention the user on the proofing window via the report in WorkApps

I have attached a screen shot of the notification.