How to Include Attachments in Smartsheet Notifications | Smartsheet Tutorial

[@dirkkemp9080]

Thanks Dan. 🙏I hadn’t appreciated that the attachment of a document to a notification was only available if you are asking for an update to a row. Still it’s useful to know; but we should probably try to motivate Smartsheet to make it possible to attach documents to certain other alerts or notifications as well. Keep up the good work! 👍

[@SchoolofSheets]

It is one of those seemingly simple things - Smartsheet chose the behavior to only include attachments that are part of the triggering conditions of the notification. So standard notifications *can* include documents but this is only some of the time and might not be all of the documents attached to a given row.

[@dirkkemp9080]

@@SchoolofSheets Thanks for the warning

[@bri-il1td]

I am looking forward to trying this! Thanks so much for this simple tutorial.

[@SchoolofSheets]

Thanks! Let me know how it goes :)

[@dreamscape9739]

Excellent tutorial. Thanks for posting!👍

[@SchoolofSheets]

Thanks for the great feedback!

[@AL-hd6of]

Thanks so much for the tutorial! Quick question - is there any way for you to get the attachments to send directly in the email? rather than clicking on the "open request" button?

[@SchoolofSheets]

You're welcome! Update requests are not configurable in that way unfortunately and this is the only reliable way to *always* have attachments available in emails unless you were to use the API to develop some more advanced solution.

[@jayjpatel2]

Great video - I wonder why I do not have option to customize how the automation are send out.

[@SchoolofSheets]

You might need to sign up for the Smartsheet early adopter program. Smartsheet.com/eap

[@user-kz4cq1do2b]

Thank you very much!

[@SchoolofSheets]

Happy to help!

[@willjeffords]

This is cool and useful - thank you! I'm guessing that I'm limited to only using where ALL the attachments associated with any row are going to be accessible in the update request right? Here's what I mean...I'm about to use this for HR Onboarding and I have a Roster Master where tons of attachments are on each row (each Employee). I only want to send 1-5 specific docs in this cool workflow without exposing all the docs that are on any row. I'm going to have to probably generate a data shuttle fed sheet for this purpose outside my Roster Master, is that correct? Or is there some way to limit what attachments one of these workflows sends?

[@SchoolofSheets]

Yes - you cannot select a subset of documents to send out in your notifications/update requests. You would need a different Sheet structure (e.g., each row is one Employee) to accomplish this or perhaps house your documents in a different program more designed for file management.

[@deepanshusharma5630]

Hi, Can we remove the weekends from Gantt view of Smartsheet?

[@SchoolofSheets]

Hey there! Unfortunately I don't think it's possible. You can reposition the order of the days (which one appears first) by going into the project settings. It might look better to make Monday the start of the week rather than Sunday, but that's about all you can do with it.

[@FahadKhan-f2e]

is there solution for attachment directly in mail instead of open link because i want to send document on address so system can automatically download document for scan but it need attachment icon to pop up on mail like regular attachment mail. instead of link.

[@SchoolofSheets]

Unfortunately there is not a way to do that. The closest solution I could recommend would be adding a paperclip emoji 📎 at the beginning and/or end of your subject line, and/or adding some text there like "📎 Attached: [Subject here]"

[@djohnson9459]

Thank you!

[@SchoolofSheets]

You're welcome! Thank you for commenting! :)

[@nicolecodispoti1695]

Thanks Dan! Quick question, the emails are all being sent to you in this example. What if I have different contacts that need to emailed when document is generated and need to send to that rows email?

[@SchoolofSheets]

Happy to help! You can accomplish this by using a Contact column and inputting your coaches in the row. If they all get the same document then use a multi select contact, if there are individual differences use separate columns for each. In the automation builder select "Contacts in a cell" as the recipient and select the column(s) with the appropriate coach(es)!

[@khadijaelabid7283]

So useful thank you for sharing!! If I was to build a gant with milestones and report that are due let’s say yearly. Would an automation allow me to get notified when I owe a report soon and reset the next report due to next year without having to create several lines for yearly reports?

[@SchoolofSheets]

You're welcome! Yes you could set this up, the "Due Date" column should have a formula so it moves up a year consistently and then you can send an automation based on that date approaching.

[@deepanshusharma5630]

Is there a way, may be with some formula or automation can we replace the last status with current status in Smartsheet, so that everytime, I update the current status, the last status should takes the previous current value?

[@SchoolofSheets]

Yes there are a few ways to do this. If your Statuses always go in order (e.g., Status 1, Status 2, Status n-1, Status n) you could use a formula in the "Last Status" that reads "Status" and displays the previous option, something like: IF(Status@row="Status 2", "Status 1", IF(Status@row = "Status 3", "Status 2", {{additional IF() statements as needed}}. If your Statuses can go in a variable order and are not predictable (i.e., From 1, to 2, back to 1, to 3) you could: 1. Set up a copy row automation to a different Sheet every time "Status" changes 2. Use a cross sheet formula in your "Last Status" column that looks at the destination Sheet of the above automation. You would use a formula that takes in the 2nd most recent option (since the most recent option will be the same data). I've never actually done this exact use case (i.e., pulling the 2nd most recent), but I would start by trying something using INDEX(), perhaps INDEX(MATCH()), a variation of MAX(COLLECT()) with some adjustment. So I'm sure this could be done but it would take some creativity to get a formula that will do exactly this. If you added a step before modifying "Status" that triggered the copy row automation this would make the formula a lot simpler as you could just use a MAX(COLLECT()) with no need to adjust. I prefer to use less manual steps and more automation but the choice is yours!

[@deepanshusharma5630]

Thanks sir, Great help Can I have your contact info.

[@SchoolofSheets]

@@deepanshusharma5630 Happy to help! For consulting inquiries please go to schoolofsheets.com/workwithus

[@darapond]

Thank you, Dan! I am doing a similar sheet where I am sharing drawings with subs, who then later upload a bid. I similarly, have a received button as a reply/update. But then when the Sub goes back to that email, the blue request button goes to an expired/used link. (I somewhat solved by putting in an "auto reply" sending attachments). Just curious if you have thought on this, thanks!

[@SchoolofSheets]

Good point - I would instruct them to not submit the update until they no longer need to access the attachment. You could also re send it whenever it is received in the event someone submits it so that they will alway have an accessible option.

[@catherinemayaguado4492]

How do you modify the email format, color and how to add buttons like open requests?

[@SchoolofSheets]

There is very limited formatting options in automations. The "open requests" is built into update requests specifically.

[@deepanshusharma5630]

a) How can I check if the user has submitted the form 48hrs ago? b) Is there any way, we can identify the if the user has submitted the form request without third part app

[@deepanshusharma5630]

I used an automation and put the condition if created by column is in the last two days

[@SchoolofSheets]

Are you referring to a standard web form (one that creates a new row) or an update request form (one that modifies an existing row). The answer will be different depending on which option as well as what else may happen in your Sheet. For a standard web form, you could certainly use the Date Created column. You could more easily visualize this with a separate column that has a formula and can check a box or something visual if the form was submitted within 2 days. Be careful with the created column though as anything submitted after 5PM (honestly I forget if it is based on your account time zone or PST which is where Smartsheet is based) will be considered to be the following day. There is an option in web forms to make users sign into Smartsheet to submit it. This is the only foolproof way to see who submitted a form.

[@deepanshusharma5630]

Yes, exactly the same way I did a set up. However I put the condition as in the next 2 days. I have to make sure that user's request must passed the 48 hours then the action should be take place