Using Control Center to update drop down lists on a regular basis

Edward Sheaf · 06/08/23

Does anyone have the need to run a regular (say once a week or once a month) global update to maintain dropdown lists on sheets that are in your template and pushed out to projects?

What I am talking about is the ability to have a "Recurring Global Update" set on a schedule to run each week, or month, that will update the options on a dropdown list in a sheet. I understand that there are data integrity issues with change dropdown options and not updating data held within the column that had been previously saved from a previous list of options that may have changed.

I think there may be an improvement gained through having this ability.

What does everyone think?

Andrée Starå · 06/08/23

Hi @Edward Sheaf

I hope you're well and safe!

Great idea! That would be a great addition to Smartsheet features.

Please submit this as a Product Feedback or Idea (If it hasn't been added already) when you have a moment.

Here's a possible workaround or workarounds

Using Premium App, Data Shuttle

Is that an option?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Edward Sheaf · 06/15/23

Hi @Andrée Starå ,

I have added an enhancement around this suggestion as I think it would improvement the CC functionality.

With using data shuttle as you suggested, it would require a separate data shuttle workflow for each CC project created and these would then need to be managed manually if a change occurred. For 200+ projects this is not feasible. Thanks for the suggestion though.

Cheers,

Ed

Mattisphere · 12/15/23

@Edward Sheaf Dropdowns that reference a range in a central sheet has been a feature request since 2015. I think the simpler implementation, rather than running updates and workflows, would just be allowing cross-sheet references for the "Values" of a Dropdown list column type. If you set that range in your control center templates, it would automatically be updated and then you could use Bridge if needed to keep that central list up-to-date from a non-Smartsheet source.

Edward Sheaf · 12/17/23

Thanks @Mattisphere, I totally agree with you, having the ability to point dropdown lists to a central sheet as an external reference would be a really simple way to handle this. It would also alleviate the issue in standard Smartsheet but also if you were using Control Center.

Either solution, global updates or external ref for a dropdown list, would solve the issue. I guess the overarching point is it should be simpler to update dropdowns as these are used as part of data validation on entry and is core to the value of Smartsheet as a product.

Thanks again.

Darren Mullen · 12/18/23

@Edward Sheaf If you don't have access to bridge and being this is a common pain point, there is an add-on dropdown manager that I represent if you are interested. It would do what you are trying to accomplish.

Here's a demo video :)

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Using Control Center to update drop down lists on a regular basis

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