What is the best way to learn SmartSheet?

Catherine Hall · 09/04/20

I have tried to watch the training videos but find I'm really distracted by both the background muzak and the number of times they tell me "it's EASY!" to where I cannot focus on anything other than how inadequate I am...

I'm really interested in learning, from start to "finish" how to create a system... set up a sheet(err... grid?), and then... get a dashboard and/or all the steps you need in between (i think i have to make a report to get a dashboard? but this isn't clear to me as sometimes I've heard reports are unidirectional and sometimes i've heard that users can update the datasource through reports... which I also need... both those things...)...

I'm JUST starting, have watched all the videos multiple times, and still feel like I know so very very little...

How can I truly get started? Thanks!

Paul Newcome · 09/04/20

Honestly the best way to learn is to dive in and do it. But... There are a lot of helpful resources you can use along the way.

HERE is a list of all functions (formula building blocks).

HERE is a list of all of the error messages you can run into when building formulas as well as some basic troubleshooting steps.

There is also an interactive sheet that can be used from a template in the Solution Center called "Smartsheet Formula Examples". It gives examples of all of the functions in an actual sheet so that you can manipulate the data and see what happens. If you happen to mess something up and save it, then you can delete the sheet and re-download the template from the solution center. Simply go to your home tab, click on "create", click on "browse templates", or click on the little + icon in the left toolbar, and search for "formula".

This Community also has A TON of information throughout and plenty of people who are happy to share their knowledge and time to help with solutions.

Here are some tips on using the Community:

Search before you start a new thread.

Provide screenshots when able with sensitive/confidential data removed, blocked, and/or replaced with mock data as needed.

Be as detailed as you can. Copy/paste formulas from the sheet. Include whatever error message(s) you are getting. If it is a wrong output (with no error message), explain the current result along with what it should be. Give background on the process and include you end goal of what you ultimately want to do with the data. It may seem like your post is long, but the more information you provide, the less questions we have to ask. Haha.

Last but not least, go ahead and buy a few extra keyboards and put some padding on top of your desk and on the wall nearest to your head and get used to drinking coffee if you aren't already. Hahaha. Smartsheet can be frustrating at times (as with any program really), but at the end of the day there is a lot of really cool stuff you can do with a little bit of patience and persistence (which can be minimized by using your resources.

Best of luck to you in your Smartsheet journey, and don't be afraid to ask questions!!

Andrée Starå · 09/04/20

@Catherine Hall

You're more than welcome!

I added the link in the previous answer.

Paul Newcome · 09/04/20

Haha. I do understand the "learn SS and build our system by yesterday!" bit. That's pretty much what happened to me.

Engage 2020 is in a few weeks as well. This year it is free to everyone and online (which means I will finally be able to attend haha), and they usually have focused sessions on all kinds of different aspects.

https://www.smartsheet.com/engage?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=engage&mem=logo&source=engage-logo&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTm1aa01XTmtNemhoTjJZMCIsInQiOiJDYzhVVFc2aVdQN2pKdUxGbVkxQnNtYnNRUDU5TTB2M0dvWXZBdGFxYnFPQ0Nwa1wvYW1KM1V1SU9taG0wZEc1WFwveWFIZVBPTm9CVExKYzFXUWtwNW90MklMYzY2XC9GVWVLK0FPYzdKQ29Qc0d0RzI5TW5cL2JlUzlTRnVnbkxOT3UifQ%3D%3D

If you would like some consultation, I believe there are a few people floating around here in the Community that do that.

As for online spreadsheet vs database... I have found that it is kind of a blend of a number of tools. Spreadsheet, database, reporting, collaboration, project management...

And I completely forgot about the Center of Excellence.

Me personally... I used all of those (including the forgotten C.O.E.). I found that hopping on here and trying to help answer other people's questions really helped me to learn as well. I also open random threads even if they have already been "Answered" just to browse and see other people's thoughts and ideas. There really is a ton of information and knowledge that can be found here in the Community. I would probably say that was (and still is) my most frequently used resource aside from trial and error.

L_123 · 09/04/20

My main point when I'm teaching new smartsheet users is the heirarchy. In fact I generally spend very little time training people on formulas inside of the program.The formulas take a while, you won't be perfect at them probably ever, I know i'm learning every day and I run smartsheet training/development for NAFTA for my company. The best goal to have for formulas in the program is to know your resources to find solutions.

Sheets->Reports->Dashboards

Those are the only 3 categories of smartsheet. Everything else that smartsheet gives you can be thought of as a template in that they are slightly modified versions of the above. Keep this in mind when developing anything inside of the program.

As far as thinking of smartsheet as a database.... I partially agree. It lacks having a direct connection between tables and forces the user to make up for this via formulas, and lack a way to report out the relationships in a simple and straightforward way. More simply put, reports do not function the same way as queries. Also smartsheet lacks oomph in it's processing power, it can currently only hold ~20k rows so it really isn't viable for mass data storage and analysis, and while it is a fairly stable platform, I don't find it terribly difficult to lag it out (though i'm probably more of an exception in this case rather than the rule)

If you want a short project to learn I'll post a development problem i've run for several years in a follow up comment

Genevieve P. · 09/06/20

Hi @Catherine Hall

I agree with everything in this thread! If you're looking for alternative videos, @Andrée Starå 's suggestion of reviewing past webinars may be a good place to start, as these won't include background music.

@Paul Newcome also mentioned Engage, which is a virtual conference on October 1st that you may find really helpful as well (see here for more details).

And, as you can see, the Community is a great place to interact with other users and learn from each other!

Cheers,

Genevieve

Paul Newcome · 09/08/20

@L@123

"Hierarchies being inside of a program means someone has to touch every row to put them in the correct hierarchy"

Yes, but one of the advantages with how my team generally uses SS is that we use templates (of sorts). This means row hierarchy is only touched one time during the initial build and then no one needs to worry with it again (aside from the occasional tweak here and there which is usually verbiage an not hierarchy related).

I have 15 different project plans that I built into one giant monster template. The very first thing my team does is run through a series of checkboxes to determine exactly which project plan(s) they need. Once they do that all they have to do is apply a filter to hide the rows that aren't applicable and then enter the appropriate actual start and actual end dates.

Basically we offer different services, but all services have a 10 week setup time, and if the same milestone is used for multiple services, it is due at the same time. So setting up banking is done at the same time within the overall project regardless of which service(s) we are implementing and will always have the same sub-tasks.

I only had to touch my hierarchies one time for the initial template and now only need to account for the rare tweak.

This makes it so that the hierarchy is already established and the users don't need to mess with anything other than a few checkboxes, a filter, and then two date columns.

The actual setup is much more complex than that, but that's the general idea.

I use the same concept for my YTD tracking. I spent extra time setting up the 1st year making sure it was perfect and everything was linked together so that for the following years all I have to do is save a folder as new then go into a single sheet and update the year (cell links carry the update to the rest of the metrics sheets).

So I don't have to adjust those hierarchies anymore either.

@Catherine Hall Look at you stirring the pot with your very first post. Hahaha. Just kidding. 😜

As you can see there are a lot of different ways to approach things in Smartsheet depending on your needs. The "best" solution for you may be something very different than what works for me or anyone else.

One of the things I like about this Community is that different opinions and additional options for solutions are definitely not frowned upon or considered "stealing someone's thunder".

The Smartsheet Community (in my experience) has been one of open knowledge sharing where even "simple" questions aren't "judged" or "looked down upon" and are answered without a condescending attitude.

Compared to other "communities", the Smartsheet Community has been one of my personal favorites to interact with.

So... Welcome and best of luck (and don't forget the coffee and bubble wrap 🤣)!

L_123 · 09/08/20

np on the training catherine, it probably isn't the best thing to solo when you don't have an experienced user at your side if you have questions. If you do attempt it and have issues please feel free to PM me on here and I'll help the best I can.

L_123 · 09/10/20

yes, you probably want to start from scratch. It can be fairly easy to mess up a sheet that has multirow formulas with sorting or filtering.

Another option, though it is debatable if it is better or not, is to use the import function smartsheet has. If you go to file up in the top left you will see it, and it will walk you through the process. There can be formatting issues in the result as smartsheet doesn't support merged cells (carriage returns also can result in formatting issues). It can be corrected after import though.

Andrée Starå · 09/04/20

Hi @Catherine Hall

I’d recommend the Center of Excellence if you haven’t already joined that.

Would that help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Andrée Starå · 09/04/20

@Catherine Hall

More info:

https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/getting-started-training/demand-training

Catherine Hall · 09/04/20

thank you!

where do i find the center of excellence?

Paul Newcome · 09/04/20

Honestly the best way to learn is to dive in and do it. But... There are a lot of helpful resources you can use along the way.

HERE is a list of all functions (formula building blocks).

HERE is a list of all of the error messages you can run into when building formulas as well as some basic troubleshooting steps.

There is also an interactive sheet that can be used from a template in the Solution Center called "Smartsheet Formula Examples". It gives examples of all of the functions in an actual sheet so that you can manipulate the data and see what happens. If you happen to mess something up and save it, then you can delete the sheet and re-download the template from the solution center. Simply go to your home tab, click on "create", click on "browse templates", or click on the little + icon in the left toolbar, and search for "formula".

This Community also has A TON of information throughout and plenty of people who are happy to share their knowledge and time to help with solutions.

Here are some tips on using the Community:

Search before you start a new thread.

Provide screenshots when able with sensitive/confidential data removed, blocked, and/or replaced with mock data as needed.

Be as detailed as you can. Copy/paste formulas from the sheet. Include whatever error message(s) you are getting. If it is a wrong output (with no error message), explain the current result along with what it should be. Give background on the process and include you end goal of what you ultimately want to do with the data. It may seem like your post is long, but the more information you provide, the less questions we have to ask. Haha.

Last but not least, go ahead and buy a few extra keyboards and put some padding on top of your desk and on the wall nearest to your head and get used to drinking coffee if you aren't already. Hahaha. Smartsheet can be frustrating at times (as with any program really), but at the end of the day there is a lot of really cool stuff you can do with a little bit of patience and persistence (which can be minimized by using your resources.

Best of luck to you in your Smartsheet journey, and don't be afraid to ask questions!!

Catherine Hall · 09/04/20

Thank you @Paul Newcome ... I feel pretty confident about the formulas (except... "+" for concatenation, really?!) as i've been programming excel and vb for... many many years... it's just the logic/structures and how everything fits together that don't make sense to me. To be fair, I came into this thinking SS is an online SPREADSHEET, which it's not. It's an online DATABASE... totally different in concept and limitations. so yeah... dive in... which is great when you have unlimited time, not "learn SS and build our system by yesterday!"

really like the suggestion to pad the walls... lots of spare bubblewrap from over-ordering on amazon... will do! thx!

Andrée Starå · 09/04/20

@Catherine Hall

You're more than welcome!

I added the link in the previous answer.

Paul Newcome · 09/04/20

Haha. I do understand the "learn SS and build our system by yesterday!" bit. That's pretty much what happened to me.

Engage 2020 is in a few weeks as well. This year it is free to everyone and online (which means I will finally be able to attend haha), and they usually have focused sessions on all kinds of different aspects.

https://www.smartsheet.com/engage?utm_source=marketo&utm_medium=email&utm_campaign=engage&mem=logo&source=engage-logo&mkt_tok=eyJpIjoiTm1aa01XTmtNemhoTjJZMCIsInQiOiJDYzhVVFc2aVdQN2pKdUxGbVkxQnNtYnNRUDU5TTB2M0dvWXZBdGFxYnFPQ0Nwa1wvYW1KM1V1SU9taG0wZEc1WFwveWFIZVBPTm9CVExKYzFXUWtwNW90MklMYzY2XC9GVWVLK0FPYzdKQ29Qc0d0RzI5TW5cL2JlUzlTRnVnbkxOT3UifQ%3D%3D

If you would like some consultation, I believe there are a few people floating around here in the Community that do that.

As for online spreadsheet vs database... I have found that it is kind of a blend of a number of tools. Spreadsheet, database, reporting, collaboration, project management...

And I completely forgot about the Center of Excellence.

Me personally... I used all of those (including the forgotten C.O.E.). I found that hopping on here and trying to help answer other people's questions really helped me to learn as well. I also open random threads even if they have already been "Answered" just to browse and see other people's thoughts and ideas. There really is a ton of information and knowledge that can be found here in the Community. I would probably say that was (and still is) my most frequently used resource aside from trial and error.

Paul Newcome · 09/04/20

@Genevieve P @Mike Wilday @L@123... Y'all see anything that @Andrée Starå and I might have missed?

L_123 · 09/04/20

My main point when I'm teaching new smartsheet users is the heirarchy. In fact I generally spend very little time training people on formulas inside of the program.The formulas take a while, you won't be perfect at them probably ever, I know i'm learning every day and I run smartsheet training/development for NAFTA for my company. The best goal to have for formulas in the program is to know your resources to find solutions.

Sheets->Reports->Dashboards

Those are the only 3 categories of smartsheet. Everything else that smartsheet gives you can be thought of as a template in that they are slightly modified versions of the above. Keep this in mind when developing anything inside of the program.

As far as thinking of smartsheet as a database.... I partially agree. It lacks having a direct connection between tables and forces the user to make up for this via formulas, and lack a way to report out the relationships in a simple and straightforward way. More simply put, reports do not function the same way as queries. Also smartsheet lacks oomph in it's processing power, it can currently only hold ~20k rows so it really isn't viable for mass data storage and analysis, and while it is a fairly stable platform, I don't find it terribly difficult to lag it out (though i'm probably more of an exception in this case rather than the rule)

If you want a short project to learn I'll post a development problem i've run for several years in a follow up comment

Paul Newcome · 09/04/20

@L@123 I'd be interested in your "development problem".

L_123 · 09/04/20

Below is a short smartsheet training project that introduces new key users to core functionality inside of smartsheet. Time to complete for a new user should be max 1.5 hours while an advanced user could complete in 20-30 minutes.

Project Paperless

Jimmy Sam and Susie are starting on a project called Project Paperless. Project Paperless deals with the conversion of written paper into E-documents for their company. Luckily there are only 3 categories of form for their company, entitled Form1, Form2, and Form3. Jimmy Sam and Susie are all required to keep track of how many of each type of document they process each day, and submit their progress to their manager. They need to process a total of 1,000 copies of Form1, 600 copies of Form2, and 1,500 copies of Form3.

The manager has realized the waste of asking them to submit their daily progress on paper, and has asked you to make a Smartsheet where they can e-file their daily progress. His requirements are as follows:

The dashboard must show:

The total project progress and progress for each form shown in percent

The total papers converted by each employee

Bonus if previous completed: The highest daily scorer for each form

The employees should not be able to access or change any information directly on the worksheet.

Paul Newcome · 09/04/20

It definitely gives a chance to learn a little more than just the basics but in a way that actually has context instead of just "you can do this with a sheet" or "you can put that on a dashboard". It ties it all together. I like it.

L_123 · 09/04/20

Thanks. It came as a result of a mix of user capabilities during training. The biggest advantage of this is when I'm training 10+ people people more capable with computers/spreadsheets help train the people who are struggling, and the ones that are struggling the most get my help. It's worked fairly well so far.

My favorite part of it is the last line. It turns it from a spreadsheet problem to a smartsheet problem, and forces users to stop thinking like they would in excel

Andrée Starå · 09/05/20

@Catherine Hall

Here's a list of previous webinars that also might be helpful.

https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/best-practice-webinars

Genevieve P. · 09/06/20

Hi @Catherine Hall

I agree with everything in this thread! If you're looking for alternative videos, @Andrée Starå 's suggestion of reviewing past webinars may be a good place to start, as these won't include background music.

@Paul Newcome also mentioned Engage, which is a virtual conference on October 1st that you may find really helpful as well (see here for more details).

And, as you can see, the Community is a great place to interact with other users and learn from each other!

Cheers,

Genevieve

What is the best way to learn SmartSheet?

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