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Export a sheet with attachments preserving the row references

For various reasons, it may be needed to export the sheet with all their attachments while preserving the knowledge of which attachment belongs to which row.

Solution examples:

1) A PDF binder where a click on the link would open the attachment, which is embedded in the binder.

2) A ZIP archive containing an Excel or HTML file with relative links to attachments stored in the subfolder in the same directory.

3) An MHT file with attachments embedded in it the same way images can be embedded (using Base-64 encoding).

30
30 votes

On Radar · Last Updated

While this change is not part of our current plan, it's helpful for us to hear how you're currently using the export functionality and the improvements that you would like to see. We appreciate your comments - please keep adding your thoughts here and on other ideation posts that interest you. Thank you!

Comments

  • Richard Heath
    Richard Heath Community Champion

    When a Sheet is currently exported to Excel, there is no reference to any attachments that may have resided in the Sheet.

    As a minimum, it would be good to have a column in the XLSX that displays the name of the attachments included in each row.

  • This is a great idea! any news from the smartsheet supoort team to make this happen?

  • Even if we could just have a column on the Smartsheet with the attachment filename would help!

  • With the advancement of AI and the possibility to use it for data analysis we are hindered by not having a way to identify which attachments correspond to which row, when exporting a backup. The attachments are downloaded in a ZIP file with no reference to the row they relate to. And the Smartsheet data does not have a field that contains the file name which could also be used to cross-reference. It has been a feature that has been requested many times over the years with no progress - could the team relook at what options are viable?

  • All attachments must start with the Row number when the attachments are down loaded in zip format to make it easier to find downloaded documents if don for complete list.


    Regards

    Breytejj

  • This is not a new idea and you are well aware of it but not being able to produce a report that includes the row info ALONG WITH the associated attachment is terrible. It's just so cumbersome and not practical to use.

  • TJA
    TJA
    edited 01/15/25

    See App Site Audit Pro for reference on producing a useable report.

  • Would very much like to see this… even if it is only an additional tag with a row identifier that is added to the file name.

  • Found this while searching for solutions. I'm unable to download bulk attachments for a large report-known bug. Additionally, while vetting work arounds Excel export doesn't show what rows have attachments to be able to sort and filter so we can focus on those. We'll need to dedicate ~45 hours to manual download of each file, renaming, and ensuring that we know what client it's associated with is made much more difficult and time consuming.

  • I would like to be able to use attached images during Export so that images are tied up in rows. or if the image gets the same name as the row, if you have many rows with many images it is not easy to find your way around during export

    It would also be great if you could add files to a specific cell or attach them when generating a document.

  • The ability to somehow link the attachment info to any file export is still desperately needed.