Current User System Field

ker9

System Field that captures who the current user is so you can use formulas or logic based on that.

Genevieve P.

Hi @ker9

Would you be able to expand a bit more on your idea? When you say "current user", do you mean the person logged in and looking at the shared sheet, in the same way that Current User is applied on a filter (so each person has a unique view and sees only their own email in this system column), or do you mean something closer to "Active Faces" which shows how many of your Shared users are currently active on the sheet?

It would also be helpful to have an example of the type of formula or logic you would want to use with this column type.

Thanks!

Genevieve

James Keuning

System Field, or formula, so that the field will contain the name of the current user.

So if I have a multi-entry contact field, I could use a checkbox column with something like CONTAINS(CONTACT_FIELD@Row,CURRENT USER) which will return TRUE if the current user's name is in the field.

This could be used for conditional formatting, to light up rows that a re relevant to the viewer.

ker9

@Genevieve P. Sorry I didn't see your question at the time it was asked. I don't recall the exact scenario I was working around but yes, the user that is logged in and viewing the sheet/report/whatever. I vaguely recall the problem was an inability to restrict access to Current User in whatever I was working on.

It could be a hidden field that you can use in formulas like the great suggestion above from @James Keuning

If [my column]@row = [CURRENT USER], Yes, No (etc.)

ker9

Possibly use to find current users office (region, etc.) and show data based on that. (Currently trying to figure that out for a dashboard chart.)

@Genevieve P. - below is a link to the original question that generated this request:

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/92447/dynamic-view-logic-based-on-current-user

Tim Starkey

Looking for a similar function. We use a "follower" column... essentially non assigned people can subscribe to a task to receive updates on its progress. But screen real estate is always an issue, so the follower field is usually off the right. I would like to implement a simple checkbox column where the user can check it to follow a task. Then an automation would capture their name (modified by) and add it to the follower column, and clear the checkbox. All that can be currently done as is.

Here is the part that requires a "current user" field that is different than a "modified by" field. Next time the user logs in, the sheet would use conditional formatting to color that checkbox cell green to indicate they are following the task. If they checked it again, it would unsubscribe / unfollow them from the task.

Now that i read this, i am really asking for conditional formatting to use "current user"... i should go search for that. But dang i already typed all this so gonna share anyways.

Reminds me though... need control center to update conditional formatting rules across portfolio...

Thanks!

KenR

Such a function would also allow a sumif([contact field], {Current User},{Cost}) in the Summary Fields. It would open up so many possibilities! Great for reporting and dashboards. It would also reduce the server load since the work around is to manually create a Summary Table and report for every user - this feature would allow a single summary table and single report to replace (in my case) over a hundred of these things.

Tim Starkey

Had another use come up that I am trying to figure out. I would like to be able to filter reports based on the current user... but not necessarily by their username. Rather, filter a report based on what department they are in, or who their manager is... these are things I could do IF I could use the "current user" in a formula and have it use a match to a cell in another sheet.

Rich N

This is a CRITICAL update in my opinion.

Having the ability for the system to use "current user" in logic for dynamic view fields allowed would permit one dynamic view link for everyone in the organization versus trying to provide a different one for each role they might be in.

Obviously the system has the ability to apply this logic to rows viewed. Being able to use it for determining columns shown would make Smartsheets exponentially more powerful. This is especially critical for workflows where people might be in "approver A" column on one workflow but in "approver B" column in another.

Being able to use the logic in the "details view" for "If current user is listed in column 50, show them columns 51-55; if they are in column 56, show columns 57-60" would be game changing and remove the need for complicated sub-sheets, reports, Datamesh and other work arounds that is requiring 15 different sheets, reports, and other layers not to mention the accompanying Datamesh, formula sheet, and logics between sheets necessary to make this work so that users have 1 consistent "landing page" to go to regardless of what approver column they happen to be in.

@Genevieve P.

I would gladly show you how a simply function of allowing a "=current user" would solve so many problems that people are having to develop complicated solutions for. It would take about 5 minutes on the high level and maybe 30 for the indepth overview of the complicated workaround needed.