How can I get a form to collect a Smartsheet Contact properly?

CycleBagEd

Hi.

I have a Smartsheet with the field type set to "Contact List"

I have set up a form to feed into it.

If I set no validation then there is no dropdown box for users to choose from. Text input is collected as text, and not as the actual contact list.

If I set it to email, then the user must input an email address. This STILL doesn't collect the data as contact list info, but instead as an email - to convert it into a contact list entry the sheet user (me) needs to click into the cell, and confirm the name from the list which appears.

If I type an email address into the sheet manually it automatically detects the user from the contact list and inputs the data in the required format.

The desired outcome is for me users to be able to input a valid contact, and have it appear in my sheet as a proper contact list item - not an email address, and not plain old text. How can I achieve this please?

MVP OPS

Hi @CycleBagEd

You will need to add the users in the sheet column settings. You can add emails then select the pencil, to add the users name. This will then appear as a contact in the column.

MVP OPS

Hi @CycleBagEd

You will need to add the users in the sheet column settings. You can add emails then select the pencil, to add the users name. This will then appear as a contact in the column.

CycleBagEd

Thanks @MVP OPS but the benefit of the contact list on the sheets themselves is that it shows me the entire organisation without me having to micromanage a list of people who will be coming and going from the organisation; I will have to manually update the list.

It seems a bit awkward to enable this central list on the sheet but then prevent it from being used on the form feeding the sheet.

thanks for your answer though.

Todd M

I actually can't believe that this hasn't been fixed in at least the two years since this question was opened. If a "Contact List" required both a name and an email, why is it that these two fields aren't automatically generated on a Form Field for the corresponding "Contact List" column in the database.

This is the most basic use of a form so that someone doesn't have to go back and clean up the database information manually because the Form is not functioning correctly.