Collections vs Work Apps
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Hi Everyone! I've questioned whether or not to even post this, because I don't want to seem negative, but I'm having a really hard time understanding Collections.
When it popped up (randomly) a few months ago, I asked my Smartsheet team about it, and they really didn't have much information, but I was actually really excited to try it, because I often find myself having to create an "ADMIN" workspace to hide certain "behind the scenes" files from my users, however now that I've tried to use it, I just don't get it.
So, one KEY thing with it, is that you DO have to give access to your data sheet, and not just as view only. If you want someone to be able to edit a report in a collection, they have to have edit access to the sheet. This is not ideal.
Also, the ONLY place that I see you can find the link to the collection once you share it (outside of an email) is in the notifications. It's not like WorkApps, where you can click that icon on the sidebar and see all that you are shared to.
You also can't create folders within a Collection. This feature seems like it could be very useful, and who knows, maybe this is a me problem. Which is why I am reaching out.
Have any of you tried it and been successful? I'd love to hear your thoughts and how it's working for you.
Comments
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Hi @Tina Ciak,
Collections take the best of Workapps and bring that into workspaces, allowing you to share certain items from workspaces based on users’ roles. You can also have multiple admins managing a collection. However, Workapps are still useful for providing access without sharing Smartsheet items, as you’ve found.
To find a Collection they’re shared to, a user needs to go into the workspace that contains the Collection (check out the FAQ here).
For more information about Collections, take a look at the following learning track:
The release notes for Collections provide more context that you may find helpful as well:
- Introducing collections: Improved work solutions for specific purpose and scope
- Workspace Collections Are Here!
You might also find this comment on another Community thread helpful since it provides a detailed description of Collections.
Being able to create folders within a Collection is a great idea! I found a product idea for subfolders within collections - feel free to click the link and add your vote!
Hope that helps!
Georgie
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Collections is just a poor mans version of workapps. You basically have to create a collection within a workspace and only after an asset in the workspace is clicked on, then collection link is shown. There is no home for collections. No way for a user to see all the processes they are involved in one space, like they do when they log into workapps.smartsheet.com
We took our top workflows and processes that have multiple roles and access to assets to Workapps and built them in Collections and asked the users to give their feedback on working in the Workapp versus Collections and nobody liked collections.
- It takes longer to build through Collections
- Users dont like going to their file manager workspace to "find" their collections, they liked logging into workapps.smartsheet.com and see all their process workapps at their fingertips. Collections need to be above Workspaces and not hidden inside each one.
- You cant see who is in each role, you just hope whoever you gave the collection link to is shred to your assets in that collections. There is no "list" like you can see in Workapps → Roles. Plus you can see all the other Collections in that workspace, even if you are not tied to any of the assets in that collections.
- In a workapp, you can have a report as a page and make a role editor on that report and they can edit the report AND NOT be editor on the underlying asset (those no provisional membership). not in collections, they HAVE to be Editor on the underlying report (thus drive up provisional memberships)
I could go on, but I really dont see how ANYONE thought collections would be a better option instead of a workapp. The new user model, the thought of eliminating their coolest feature in Workapps, all just seems like a ploy to drive users back to sharing the core assets and thus drive up provisional members to increase revenue.
And this doesnt even get into using Workapps for portfolio or projects which is awesome. Through Collections, its seems to be a step back.
Sorry, my two cents. Something just doesnt smell right.
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@Jason Hidek —- thanks for the response! I did not even dive as deep as your team did and I agree with everything you've said. Although WorkApps has presented some challenges, overall it's a much better option in my opinion. Especially for users who really arent super familiar with navigating in Smartsheet. I really hope that those making the decisions at Smartsheet consider user feedback around all of this and make some changes that actually improve the user experience. Overall, I still love Smartsheet and use it for so many things!!
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Commenting to follow this. I don't have collections but I've heard this feedback. It makes me very nervous that SS is going to replace WorkApps with Collections before Collections becomes a viable alternative.
I've also heard good things about collections, so I'm hopeful.
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I am very disappointed that the WorkApps functionality is being scaled back. I have championed this throughout my organization and now not looking forward to losing the product I loved. I guess time will tell.
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Another issue with the introduction of the new user model is that Member access (license) is required to use Workapps. So now an "external" user requires a license to View/Edit assets in Workapps. If you're already invested in Workapps for different types of users, this is a problem.
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Workapps sets Smartsheet apart from all the other tools. Workapps is a very powerful workflow and division of duty/role design.
People just go to their workapp, period. they dont need to save favorites, they dont need to hunt through workspaces, etc. Just go to the pages you are assigned in the workapp and go from there.
I do'nt understand Smartsheet funneling everyone back to the file manager/workspaces view. That makes no sense and is hard to navigate.
WORKAPPS are where its at Smartsheet. You should be setting yourself apart from other companies, not going back to what they are doing, channeling everyone into file structures, charging for access to those files.
You need two business models. One for your core base clients, and one for your advanced clients that use workapps and the advanced tools (data shuttle, bridge, etc…)
Trying to shove all of them into one solution will not work.
If Workapps goes away, we are done with SS. Our users login to workapps.smartsheet.com. They do not login to SS home page as they get lost.
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@Lisa Shields ACtually this is not true. Workapps is actually the way around memberships. Anyone can be invited to a workapp, they dont need a membership. You can throw dashboards and dynamic views, have discussions and all of that in a Workapp.
As long as it is thru a Workapp no one needs a membership, other than the user designing the Workapp.
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@Jason Hidek Are you under the new user subscription model? We have an Enterprise plan that just renewed 1/31/25 under the new user pricing. My Workapps users who do not have a license (are not members) could not access their Workapps assets since then. Previously, I had many users with edit and view access to sheets and reports and dashboards in Workapps.
I will certainly explore this with my Smartsheet rep…
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@Jason Hidek @Lisa Shields - I really hope that Smartsheet takes a deeper dive into this topic and listens to feedback from users. Collections is a waste of resources, and just not useful with the way it's set up. In terms of WorkApps, I did hear that they were trying to make it so you had to purchase a "WorkApps for Collaborators" add on if you are not on Smartsheet Advanced. The whole new user model and doing away with free collaborators is another step in the WRONG direction.
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@Lisa Shields Yes we just converted end of January to new user model. We are a heavy Smartsheet Workapp advanced Enterprise Pro users. We also control who creates smartsheets and why so giving people the freedom to create assets is not a plus for us.
All of our Workapps are built by a super user. Any user,, and we have some Workapps with 40-50 users, internal and external, are setup in the workapp roles and assigned edit or view to the pages (assets) we use.
None of them have any permissions to the underlying sheets or reports.
We also are heavy users of the Portfolio Project Workapps and Blueprinting through Control Center and can set project managers and team members that way where none are shared to the underlying assets.
They really should look at splitting between the core products where companies may benefit from collections, and to us advanced users who put everything into Workapps and control our builds.
Basically with the new provisional membership model, we are going to limit smartsheet use to projects and processes that are ongoing. If you want to create a sheet for budget season and share to your team to input stuff, dont bother using smartsheet, just user Office 365. not worth the risk.
If you need a process built, it has to be built by a super user, through a workapp correctly. We are currently scrubbing some 10k assets and setting every single person to View only. Well, we cant cause SS tools are working to control the provisional memberships.
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@Jason Hidek So the distinction is the Advanced add-on for collaborators. You probably have that level - we do not. So although Workapps is included in the Enterprise plan, only members can access it without the additional cost for WorkApps for Collaborators. Collections doesn't work for us either.
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@Lisa Shields Yes, then you are stuck, unless you can migrate alot of processes to dynamic views, which I think are part of the Core product now, not sure.
That is definitely something I would talk to Smartsheet about, is it worth moving to Workapps with amount of sharing you have.
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Thank you for sharing your thoughts and concerns with us. We truly appreciate the candid feedback; it helps us make better decisions and improve the product. We appreciate your patience as we continue to evolve Smartsheet and implement our workspace-centric strategy to help you work more efficiently.
We understand how critical Smartsheet is to your business operations, we’re working to make it easier for you to use and consume Smartsheet solutions. One way we’re approaching this is by bringing everything Smartsheet under one roof; part of this is Collections.
In the future, WorkApps will transition fully to Collections. Collections being available in workspaces, the center of Smartsheet solutions, allows for easier access, creation, management, and visibility for you and your stakeholders. For the time being, Collections will coexist with WorkApps.
WorkApps will not transition to Collections until Collections have the same capabilities as WorkApps. These functionalities include:
- Collection organization - Available now, you can reorder Collection content! And soon you’ll be able to organize your Collection content into sections.
- Creating Collections from folders - Coming soon you’ll be able to create Collections from folders and add folder content to existing Collections!
- Report sharing - Adding a report to a Collection will not require you to share the underlying sheet for the report to populate. You will be able to control the exposure of information only to those who need to see it without giving them access to all of the underlying data.
- Collection theming - Collections will support theming and branding.
- Collection visibility - Collections will be available on home, in favorites, recents, and search.
- Collections in Portfolios - Collections will be supported in Portfolios.
As we transition to Collections, you may be wondering what happens to your existing WorkApps? We’ll provide functionality that will automatically convert your WorkApps to Collections. No heavy lifting needed from you! We’ll provide more information as we get closer to this time.
We acknowledge that collab pack pricing and USM membership are different and we'll work to clarify the impacts of this prior to fully transitioning to Collections.
Frequently asked questions:
- What’s happening to WorkApps?
- In the future, WorkApps will transition to Collections. For the time being, Collections and WorkApps will coexist. Collections will continue to be improved, while WorkApps will not see additional investment.
- Why Collections?
- As we move toward a workspace-centric model, and move to have all Smartsheet functionality under one roof, this is the natural next step. Collections will have the same functionality as WorkApps.
- When are WorkApps going away and when will I have only Collections?
- The exact timing when this will happen isn’t available. We expect this to happen within the next 12-18 months.
- What happens to my existing WorkApps?
- Your existing WorkApps will be migrated to Collections when Collections will have all the capabilities of Workapps. We’ll provide you with the tools and time to convert your WorkApps to Collections. No heavy lifting on your part required.
- What happens if I’m on USM and have Collections and WorkApps?
- If you are on USM, you will have access to Collections and WorkApps. Your WorkApps will continue to function without change or interruption.
- Will users added to a WorkApp page as an editor count as a provisional member on USM?
- No. Users shared to a WorkApps as an editor will not count as a provisional member.
Please continue to share your valuable thoughts and feedback; it helps us improve our products.
Ramani Katari
Senior Director of Product (Smartsheet)
Ramani Katari
Senior Director of Product (Smartsheet)
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Will there still be a central place to locate the collections? Workplace is so valuable because it is a one stop shop. Trying to navigate to workspaces to find the collection is not user friendly.
I appreciate the update!
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