Can a form update a specific row, rather than just adding rows to the bottom of a smartsheet?

prjessy

I have a form and I'd like the form to recognise an already existing row on its linked smartsheet where the submitted form contents update a given row. I think it might be the case that forms just add rows to the bottom of a smartsheet (and then they manually need to be edited in such case).

Can anyone shed any light whether this can be done, or something similar?

In our case, our smartsheet is profiling public parks with tennis courts and their condition. The parks and the tennis court condition are all pre-entered on the smartsheet and need to be updated based on officers visiting the parks and assessing the court conditions. After their visit, we want them to simply complete a smartsheet form that when entering the given park name on the form (the first column text name), this will identify the correct row on smartsheet and update it based on their form entries.

It feels like a wasted feature if forms can only add rows to the bottom of the page, but equally I can't see any row association or tagging features in forms.

Mike TV

@prjessy Yes but it might be easier for you to manually send the Update Request instead of an automation it sounds like since it sounds like there might not be a "trigger" you can set for when the automation would fire off the update request to them. To manually execute an Update Request, simply manually select the Row which needs updated, then right-click it and at the bottom choose Send Update Request. At the bottom, you're going to want to select the columns which you want them to see and/or edit. You can even schedule the update request to go out at a specific day/time. For example, if you know someone will be going to Park A today you can generate the Update Request in the morning and set it to fire off the email with the Update Request to them at 4PM same day or 8AM next day, etc.

Mike TV

@prjessy Forms, no but what you're going to want to create is an automation for an Update Request. When you set up a Request an Update action, any of the columns you select in the Customize Message area will be displayed to the receiver. Any columns you choose to include in the Update Request will be editable so they can change existing data and add in any data in blank columns which you've selected in the Customize Message area. The update request email will indicate which Row the update request is for.

BTW, Forms can be used to add a row to either the top or the bottom of the sheet. You change where they're added by the Settings area of the Form.

prjessy

@Matt C. ok, so we could use an 'update request' to ask the officer to edit the relevant row on the smartsheet directly after a visit & therefore no involvement of forms at all?? The tricky part here is that visits are not defined to specific time slots, they are diarised quite randomly based on reports from the local council or public requiring us to visit the park in question.

I'm struggling to see the purpose of a form if it's just used to enter new rows to a sheet (when a person could enter directly on the sheet). It feels like there's a trick being missed not being able to update existing rows, although, I guess the issue is that tagging/referencing the given row from a form might be quite tricky (could perhaps be achieved by a match with the exact text of column 1 or a reference to a defined row number from the first question on the form).

Thanks for coming back to me on this

Mike TV

@prjessy Yes but it might be easier for you to manually send the Update Request instead of an automation it sounds like since it sounds like there might not be a "trigger" you can set for when the automation would fire off the update request to them. To manually execute an Update Request, simply manually select the Row which needs updated, then right-click it and at the bottom choose Send Update Request. At the bottom, you're going to want to select the columns which you want them to see and/or edit. You can even schedule the update request to go out at a specific day/time. For example, if you know someone will be going to Park A today you can generate the Update Request in the morning and set it to fire off the email with the Update Request to them at 4PM same day or 8AM next day, etc.

Diane Newton

Can I send an update request to person "A" when person "A" does not have permission to the sheet I need updated?

For context: we have a request form that anyone can fill out. Sometimes the requestor does not put good data in a required field. What options do I have to send that requestor an update request on the field I need better data for?

Andrée Starå

Hi @Diane Newton

I hope you're well and safe!

Yes, you can send an Update Request to any email.

Would that work?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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