I know I have been told the Safe Sharing logic is working as designed, however I would like to challenge that.
Simply put: To me, there is a difference between Safe Sharing vs. merely sending an Automation Notification following a Form submission. We are NOT sharing anything — we are merely sending an Email, confirming their Form submission.
Here’s the scenario of our challenge
- Smartsheet Sheet with Form created
- Form URL provided (including to external users)
- Form is accessed by anyone with the URL (Safe Sharing not an issue, yet!)
- Form collects multiple fields, including Email Address(es)
- Smartsheet Automation Email communication is built to send confirmation email, including Form fields and other key elements, such as automated dates, automated number, etc.
Challenge
- With Safe Sharing OFF, this was never an issue
- With Safe Sharing ON, it overrides all other rules/settings/configurations; therefore, Automation Emails will not be delivered, unless Email Address or Domain is in the Safe Sharing list.
- So, a business case would be a Form could be submitted by anyone. Regardless of size (100, 1k, 10k, etc.), we would need to add everyone’s Email Address – or Email Domain, to the Safe Sharing list.
- This is not practical for an operational process as it would delay the confirmation email from going back to the Form submitter.
Solution
- Turn Safe Sharing OFF. Not what we want to do as this would take us backwards
- Leave Safe Sharing ON.
- Continue to enroll individual Email Addresses to the Safe Sharing list, as we have been doing
Work with Smartsheet
- While I understand everything is working as designed.
- Why is there not a Permissions setting (such as the one in Admin Center – or the one in Automation permissions) to override Safe Sharing – instead of the other way around where nothing overrides Safe Sharing.
- Safe Sharing should be for “Sharing” and not when we are merely trying to “Communicate”
