Customize the From Name of Smartsheet Alerts and Requests

Lekshmi Unnithan · 08/11/23

Hi Community,

A common problem that our customers faced was that the email From Name for automated Smartsheet alerts or requests used to be the name of an unfamiliar sheet owner or the person triggering the automation, often leading to these valuable notification emails being ignored.

We’re happy to announce that workflow builders can now set the From Name of automated alerts, update requests, or approval requests to come from one of the following options:

Send from Smartsheet Automation
Send from my organization*
Send from triggering user (for alerts) or Send from sheet owner (for requests)

By customizing the From Name of Smartsheet automation emails, you increase the chances of recipients opening the email and taking the intended actions, thereby boosting the effectiveness of the automation.

*Please note that the Send from my organization option is only available for customers on Enterprise plans or higher. Users on a free Trial as well as licensed users on Individual, Pro, and Business plans can use the Send from Smartsheet Automation and the Send from triggering user/sheet owner customization options.

To get started, check out this help article on how to customize the content of your alerts and requests.

You can also stay informed by subscribing to receive product release updates for curated news of recently released product capabilities and enhancements for the platform of your choosing, delivered to your inbox. As new releases occur, you will receive a daily email with news of what's released. (Emails will only send daily, Monday-Friday, as new releases are available).

Cheers,

Lekshmi Unnithan

Senior Product Marketing Manager

Product screenshots:

Enterprise plans and higher:

Individual, Pro, and Business plans:

Relationship between From Name and Reply To email address

Andrée Starå · 08/11/23

Hi @Lekshmi Unnithan

I hope you're well and safe!

Amazing! Thanks! This will help many of my clients.

I need clarification on the help article. The article states that It's included in all plans except the free.

It doesn't say anything that it's only available in Enterprise. (not that I can see)

Which is correct? I want to make sure before I talk to my clients.

Be safe, and have a fantastic weekend!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

Darla Brown · 08/11/23

Finally! My team has been anxiously waiting for this update. Thanks, @Lekshmi Unnithan , and team.

AmandaWebb · 08/11/23

This isn't really what we asked for. We want to be able to customize the sender name/email. We would like for the notifications to be sent from, and responses to go to, a specific email address. This is often a shared email box that can be accessed by multiple people, rather than sending tons of emails directly to an individual (who may or may not have anything to do with it, they only created the sheet).

This is definitely a step in the right direction but seems like a halfway fix being wrapped up as the solution we wanted, but it isn't.

Jeff Reisman · 08/11/23

Thanks @Lekshmi Unnithan

Regarding the updated Help article https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2479256-customize-the-content-of-your-alerts-and-requests

The new section for Customize From Name needs to go into more detail about what the choices mean, and what email ends up being the Reply-To address if someone replies to the message.

Specifically, if the option chosen is Send From Smartsheet Automation or Send From My Organization, when someone replies to that email the reply is still going to be sent to the sheet owner. With the Send From Triggering User option, if the automation is triggered by a specific user's changes, that user is shown as the sender and replies are sent to that triggering user instead of to the sheet owner, yes?

Lekshmi Unnithan · 08/11/23

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/390163#Comment_390163

Hi Andrée, thank you for catching that! We are working to get the help article updated ASAP. But I can confirm that the "Send from my organization" dropdown option is only available for Enterprise and higher plans.

Lekshmi Unnithan · 08/11/23

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/390178#Comment_390178

Hi Amanda,

Thank you for sharing your feedback. This change is the first of many that are planned to enhance the workflow customization and notification experience. The Product team is evaluating further enhancements to set the From Name as a specific person/group and customize the reply-to. While they are not yet confirmed for our roadmap, I can share that we are evaluating these capabilities. Please consider joining the Early Adopter Program (if you aren't already a part of it) so that you can get early access to some of our latest and greatest features.

Thanks,

Lekshmi

Lekshmi Unnithan · 08/11/23

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/390194#Comment_390194

Hi Jeff,

I've added a screenshot to the main post detailing the relationship between the From Name and Reply To email address. We will work to get the help article updated with this information too.

Thanks,

Lekshmi

Jeff Reisman · 08/11/23

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/390244#Comment_390244

Thanks!

Matt Rasmussen · 08/11/23

This is a helpful step, but not what we've been waiting five months for since the first announcement. We need and have asked for the ability to set the "From" name and/or address to a specific email address.

Even though the "Send from my organization" option allows email replies from users to go to the sheet owner, it is not the same. In most cases, the sheet owner is not the same person as an intake process owner or a request process owner because the sheet owner is a Smartsheet admin or experienced user setting up the sheet and its' automations for a company department or decision maker.

We need more flexibility on this than the three new options because workflow emails look like spam to outside customers/clients and even most internal employees. Case in point, I recently submitted a request to a vendor of ours that is a large purveyor of coffee with a name that rhymes with "bar trucks" who used Smartsheet for their request intake; but my request (and the requests of my coworkers) did not get processed for weeks because our email filtering thought the messages coming from "Mike Redacted via Smartsheet <automation@app.smartsheet.com>" was spam. Our network team had to change our email filtering to allow the emails to pass even though we are already using Smartsheet and Smartsheet automated emails.

Andrée Starå · 08/12/23

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/390226#Comment_390226

Happy to help!

TiffanyG · 08/15/23

I second Amanda Webb's comment above:

"We would like for the notifications to be sent from, and responses to go to, a specific email address. This is often a shared email box that can be accessed by multiple people, rather than sending tons of emails directly to an individual (who may or may not have anything to do with it, they only created the sheet).

Having the ability to customize, the From name is very helpful, but we still want to make sure that the sheet creator is not inundated with irrelevant emails. Please consider making this part of a future update, as it would save us valuable time from having to forward emails to the correct teams.

Felicia Wilson · 08/31/23

I agree with all of the comments above regarding the solution, its still not customizable enough of an option.

We would like the notifications to be sent from, and responses to go to a specific email address. I would add that we would like to be able to change the FROM title as well for example instead of "John Smith via Smartsheet <automation@app.smartsheet.com>" I'd like to be able to put in my own description, such as "Project ABC via Smartsheet <automation@app.smartsheet.com>" By allowing this customization, we can alert the receiver of the notification with a title that is more relevant.

katheride · 09/07/23

The fact that the reply-to header is still going to the sheet owner is a major issue. Sheet owners are invariably developers and not the people who actually run and oversee the actual workflows. I am becoming increasingly hesitant to recommend using Smartsheet as a solution because any new project dramatically increases my email traffic. Adding text to tell recipients to reply to a specific email is prone to end user error.

Colleen Branigan · 10/24/23

This is a helpful enhancement but the ability to self designate the "from" email would be much more helpful. I design a lot of sheets and templates for our teams and am not the correct person to receive feedback from automated emails. It would also be nice to be able to "cc" other individuals without having to create a separate alert workflow. Hoping to see these options in future enhancements. I did try transferring ownership of some sheets but would love to eliminate this extra step. Additionally I do occasionally receive an error message that I am unable to transfer ownership to the individual I requested.

MPath · 06/19/24

Let me present my usecase.

Made a form for warehouse incoming goods, to make a non-conformity report early in the morning (just some fields to fill, attachment if needed) before supplychain office jobs start.

Wehn supllychain comes in, they can see the issues that have been sent in in their email inbox. Now internally, they know where its coming from by looking at the email subject. It is sent from Samrtsheet Automation. I could set it from sheet owner (me) but I'm just facilitating. I don't have a supplychain job or a clue ;)

Now here is where it gets tricky.

I want, after approvalrequest from supplychain, to forward the complaint to the selected supplier.

Now they will either get an email from Smartsheet Automation, or an email from me as a sheet-owner. They don't know me and I sure do NOT want to get anyemail from them.

Being able to adjust the from field would remove a huge barrier. Currently, I do not feel I can implement, because chances are that automated emails after approval, will just be deleted or not recognized by the (huge) supplier.

Customize the From Name of Smartsheet Alerts and Requests

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