Why did the format change on automated alert notifications?

Nomland · 10/22/24

Wondering if you could help me regarding the automation alerts based on changes to a sheet. They changed. The format was “normal” and worked yesterday. Today the alert is asking recipients to “Open in Smartsheet”. Can we change this back? My inbox is filling up with people clicking it and requesting access they shouldn't have to the sheet, not to mention it takes up a lot of real estate in the email.

Is there an option to go back to the original format of these automated alert notifications?

left sample is the new format, right sample is the old format i want to switch back to.

Genevieve P. · 10/28/24

Hi all,

I just wanted to jump in here and clarify that there was indeed a change to the format of automated alerts when you noticed it! This is to align with the same visualizations and formatting as our other automated emails.

I believe there will be an announcement post or release note about this once a few tweaks have been made, thank you for your patience.

@Jason P notifications go out through the Release News page (that you can subscribe to) or, depending on the change, announced here in the Community from this category. 🙂

For the Sheet Link, this URL is included in alerts if you are sending row information along with the alert. You can remove this by sending a Message Only type of alert, see this Help Article: Customize your alerts and requests | Smartsheet Learning Center

Please feel free to provide your feedback regarding sheet links in this related Product Idea: Option to Not Include Sheet Link on Notifications

Cheers,
Genevieve

Genevieve P. · 11/15/24

Hi all,

Thank you again for your feedback regarding the updated Alert look and format. Based on this there has been another update released: instead of the blue "Open in Smartsheet" button, the email shows the sheet name and link as it did previously, just with the updated styling.

This sheet link URL is included in alerts if you are sending row information along with the alert. You can remove this by sending a Message Only type of alert - here's more information: Customize your alerts and requests | Smartsheet Learning Center

If you still need the sheet link removed, it would be helpful for the Product team to hear about all the different use-cases for this. Please add your comments and votes to this related Product Idea: Option to Not Include Sheet Link on Notifications

Thank you,
Genevieve

Genevieve P. · 11/18/24

Hi @Nomland

There currently isn't a way to customize other areas of the email alert, other than the content of the messages.

Genevieve P. · 12/10/24

Hi all,

Our support team has looked into this further based on the conflicting reports here; what we've found is that the Sheet Link is not clickable on Outlook desktop app, however these links work as expected on Outlook online and other online email providers.

I don't have an ETA for when this will be resolved but hopefully this helps clarify!

Cheers,
Genevieve

C. Peter Datz · 12/10/24

Thanks Genevieve… this makes sense. And explains why we were going in circles above. I can confirm MCC primarily use Outlook online, but we do still have some desktop app users, so a resolution on that front will also be helpful.

Thanks again!

Jason P · 10/22/24

Hi @Nomland

By chance, did the recipient have a filer applied on the sheet the notification came from? Found this from some time ago.

Clicking on "Open In Smartsheet" in email should turn off any active filters in the SS

hanseric

Jan 10, 2019

When one tagged in a comment of a sheet using the "@", that person gets an email with the message.

But often the formatting of the message is a little too condensed so the next logical move is to click Open in Smartsheet in the email.

This should take the user to the exact row. In a large sheet (many rows) and where users who are doing this are not particularly technical or maybe even somewhat technophobic, it's really ideal that the exact row is queued up for the user. When this doesn't happen, I've seen users get lost in scrolling and get frustrated.

The point is, the preferred, expected behavior is inconsistent because of an active filter.

If the filter is active and the row is not visible in that filter, then it appears to be a dead end as the sheet opens in terms of that specific row. If you're not really hip to the filter feature (and many aren't), you can think something is wrong when it isn't.

Is it possible to toggle off any active filters as the sheet opens?

If so, I'd highly recommend this for the above reason.

Nomland · 10/22/24

No, this has nothing to do with comments on a row with @ someone message - these are automated alert e-mails when specified criteria (cell values) are met with or without conditions. Most the recipients do NOT even have access to the sheet - it's just process notification that their request is moving through the system and each alert provides different information along the process. Yesterday the alerts were very uniform listing a custom header message, the sheet name was a blue hyperlink at the top of the message, and list of column field data related to the Job request was listed below. As of today the format of these automated alerts changed to include large light blue box surrounding repeat of the Subject line, and darker blue "button" stating Open in Smartsheet (looking very similar to Update requests) where that darker blue button on request is the submit link where form pops up and allows you to edit the sheet. These alerts a notifications only - i don't want or need anyone to update anything - but as of today everyone getting them is clicking the blue button and asking for permission to the sheet that i will never grant to them, but i feel the the need to respond to each of them explaining why. I just want to know if there is a feature that allows me to go back to the way these alert notifications looked when they landed in inboxes prior to today.

Jason P · 10/23/24

Funny enough users reporting there're getting both in the one notification now.... Suspect others will raise with Smartsheet, until then can you send a group email to not open in smartsheet?

@Genevieve P. Are Owners and Group Admins notified of updates and changes? I don't recall getting any and can find nothing on the web - Ideally options to allow or not would be better.

We've noticed several updates that have prompted staff questions, such as the search bar being moved, the same panel changing from blue to grey, and most recently, a slow response when trying to view row attachments, which seems to be caused by Windows animations (we've submitted a support ticket for this issue).

,

C. Peter Datz · 10/23/24

Totally agree with this… this change needs to be reverted back or we need the option to only display the sheet name without the 'Open in Smartsheet' business.

Elizabeth Gullam · 10/23/24

Agree, this is not a welcome update. It has been tough to get stakeholders engaged/reading the notifications. This new format is really off-putting. And as @Nomland noted, the prompt to open Smartsheet shouldn't be the headline. I just need folx to read the notification content, not click into the source sheet.

AZinKS · 10/23/24

Throwing in my vote that we need to be able to revert back to the other way. Those notifications are used as notifications and not an invite to go to Smartsheet.

jr17 · 10/25/24

Completely agree! This new format is awful and when you're opening hundreds of sheets, it is tedious/time consuming to not know which ones are sending the notification.

C. Peter Datz · 10/25/24

I've been informed by our TAM that Smartsheet Product Management is working on a solution… fingers crossed!

Genevieve P. · 10/28/24

Hi all,

I just wanted to jump in here and clarify that there was indeed a change to the format of automated alerts when you noticed it! This is to align with the same visualizations and formatting as our other automated emails.

I believe there will be an announcement post or release note about this once a few tweaks have been made, thank you for your patience.

@Jason P notifications go out through the Release News page (that you can subscribe to) or, depending on the change, announced here in the Community from this category. 🙂

For the Sheet Link, this URL is included in alerts if you are sending row information along with the alert. You can remove this by sending a Message Only type of alert, see this Help Article: Customize your alerts and requests | Smartsheet Learning Center

Please feel free to provide your feedback regarding sheet links in this related Product Idea: Option to Not Include Sheet Link on Notifications

Cheers,
Genevieve

Nomland · 10/28/24

@Genevieve P.

So are you saying there is no going back or option for this new format? what about all the extra requests to share sheet that we weren't getting before this update. all of my alerts are set up to show the link - it has was replaced by the big blue box outlining and repeating the subject line of the alert and now highlights open in smartsheet button as if that's what I want them to do, when in reality it is the exact opposite of what i want them them to do. In my opinion this change was not very well thought out and needs A LOT of tweaks before it should've been put into production. this new alert style or format wastes a lot of real estate and is causing confusion. is this community forum the only recourse we can take to vote AGAINST this change? Will SS at least consider making this optional for those of us that don't want our alerts updating to this format?

Kariv · 10/28/24

Agreeing with the comments above. The new format change takes up a lot of unnecessary real estate, and it no longer contains the name of the sheet it is referencing. I have several execs that like to receive these summaries of sheet changes to quickly get an update on project status, but if they can't easily determine what project it relates to without clicking into the Smartsheet, then the automated notifications are of no use to them.

ashleys · 10/29/24

I agree with this post. This notification should stay as it was. I've received way too many unwanted notifications for people trying to get access to the sheet.

eapell · 10/29/24

Agreeing with all of the above. This has added in a large portion of unnecessary space that serves no purpose. There is no added benefit to that box information wise. Also, the amount of users that previously had no access to an actual Smartsheet and only a Smartsheet Form are now wanting to gain access. This put the owners of the sheets in a position to explain why they are not allowed access and is also creating an excessive amount of unnecessary work. It would be great to have this reverted back to the original state or at least have a way to disable this for the many users that do not want this function added to their sheets.

bliedke · 10/29/24

I agree. Please revert back to the original notification way.

Michael Williams · 11/06/24

I have to agree with the above comments regarding the change in the notification format. This was not a welcome change that removed useful sheet information and replaced it with an empty shaded area and an Open in Smartsheet button. I've already been asked by department managers who already receive a great deal of email messages to make changes so they don't have to scroll to find out information that was previously there.

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Why did the format change on automated alert notifications?

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Clicking on "Open In Smartsheet" in email should turn off any active filters in the SS

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