Copy Specific Columns From One Sheet to Another, Linked

rlacout

I'm truly surprised the Smartsheet development team has not added the ability to select specific columns when "Copy Row" is a choice within the Automation process because I've seen multiple cases where users are asking for this. I submitted it as a suggestion, but it can't come soon enough for my organization's needs to share a specific sheets with only the a limited number of columns from a master sheet after a "new row" trigger has occurred. Yes, there are workarounds, but they are cumbersome.

Jason_AZ86Biz

Ditto everything everyone else posted about the need for this feature. Clients I work with are asking for this level of sophistication in their Smartsheet solutions. Appreciate the suggestions provided and will try them first. Thank you Smartsheet Community!

Thank you

Jason

Jason Hostens, BA,MBA,LSSBB 

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AZ86 Business Services LLC

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LizTo

This feature would be extremely useful for my team as well. I'd love to hear from the development team if this is a feature that will be rolled out.

Garmon D

This would definitely useful across the board for my users - I'm getting some feedback on how frustrating using helper sheets can be, particularly for some of my less technologically-comfortable colleagues. Any updates from the dev team appreciated!

PWNA Sam Harwart

Adding my vote to this one. If we can't select columns, when you move a row perhaps there could be a toggle to "Add Missing Columns" to the destination sheet. If unchecked, only columns that match the destination would be copied.

Samuel Mueller

Genius Idea ^ @PWNA Sam Harwart

Grace Deng

I use automation workflow to copy rows based on triggers to another sheet. Then use datamesh "add and copy" to copy selected columns to a third sheet. Unique ID for each row is required. Hope it helps.

lola.brooks113611

Hi,

I'd love this feature because I use a kiosk function that moves rows of data when students are checked into rooms on a school campus. The purpose of the function is to save the entry for historical purposes. I only need 4 columns copied out of 30 or so. In addition, there is no way to remove comments when the rows of data transfer over. The amount of data and comments we create surpasses the system's capacity. Last year this resulted in unrecoverable historical information. I've been looking for creative solutions to address this ever since.

An alternative to this function could be to allow formulas that do not create a circular loop to trigger workflows, or even a limited option that allows a formula to trigger a workflow to add a check mark to a helper column. Something I've tried and also saw as a suggestion on some other posts was to set up 3 sheets to produce a clean historical version. It would work by populating the data on the first sheet, using a second sheet with the reduced number of columns and an index match function to populate the room when students check in, once the room is populated on the second sheet then it moves the clean version to the 3rd. Unfortunately, this only works if you use a timed function and there are plenty of use cases where information might change too frequently for this to work out. In our use case, the field entry changes 4 times per day and needs to be copied over each time.

Danielle Wilson

@lola.brooks113611 If you have access to Data Shuttle and DataTable, have you thought about employing those to store the historical data and get around the sheet limits? That would cull out the comments as well.

Rick Benton

Just joining in on supporting this suggestion...

We have a process where tools are sent to a central depot for repair. The entire process is tracked within Smartsheet. We also have instances where a tech travels to locations to do simple repair and calibration tasks. If the tech finds a tool that needs to be sent to the depot, it would be great to have the relevant information for that tool submitted to the in-take sheet rather than having to complete their inspection form and then open the in-take sheet to add a subset of the same information there.

Bleakley McDowell

Smartsheet needs to add this ability. It has been requested for years and by many people. The solutions offered by Smartsheet - VLOOKUP, DATAMESH, etc. - are all not good and approximations, at best. They are, as noted by others here, cumbersome and not easily adopted unless you spend serious time learning the technical details of Smartsheet, something most people are not going to do and should not be asked of them.

The request is simple:

1. Allow users to copy select columns from one Smartsheet to another.
2. Allow this action to be done manually or have it be triggered by an automation.
3. Allow row data copied over to include attachments and comments, if desired.

Not having this ability makes me second guess using Smartsheet every time I start a project.

Improve Consulting

Yes agree that the copy Row automation would be valuable if we could select only certain columns to copy. Is this feature likely to be made available?

lola.brooks113611

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/400756#Comment_400756

I have access to both and use both for other functions. I use data mesh less frequently. I haven't found it to be more useful than using formulas because of data latency challenges.

To make live data consistent between two sheets, it seems your only option is to use data mesh, but doing this creates cell links which is basically the same thing as using an index/match function to pull data over. Neither one of those options can be used for a trigger that completes a task in real time. The closest I can get is using data mesh to send the information each hour.

Rmay

I think the copy specific columns would be very helpful. We have several uses where we just want move rows between sheets by automation and do not want all the columns. Data Shuttle/Bridge etc - is more complicated than what is needed for the purpose. plus, you have to purchase them, if not already part of your plan.

Samuel Mueller

@lola.brooks113611 You could use a helper column that makes the unique identifier blank if it does not match the criteria, and then use that column in your DataMesh workflow. You could send data immediately but only if it meets the criteria. This would get around the hourly limit but allow you to use a criteria like you would in a report.