Onboarding Guide #2 covered the basics of navigating and updating your solution. This stage covers how collaboration works — sharing, notifications, update requests, and permissions. It also addresses the most common points of confusion for new users.
Getting this right early prevents a lot of noise later.
1. How sharing works
Access to everything in Smartsheet — sheets, reports, dashboards — is controlled through sharing. Understanding how it works means you’ll know who can see what, and who to speak to when access needs changing.
Licence types
Every person in your Smartsheet account has a licence type that determines what they can do.
| Licence type | What they can do |
| Member (licensed) | Create and edit sheets, build reports and dashboards, configure automations, manage sharing. |
| Contributor (formerly Viewer) / Guest | View sheets and dashboards they’ve been shared on. Can comment, add attachments, respond to update requests, fill out forms, and interact with Dynamic View. Cannot create or edit sheet content directly. |
If someone tells you they can’t edit a sheet, the most likely cause is their licence type or their sharing permission level — not a platform fault. Licence types are managed by your organisation’s Smartsheet System Administrator.
Sheet-level permissions
Even with a Member licence, a person’s access to a specific sheet depends on how they’ve been shared on it. Permissions run from Admin down to Viewer. Most team members are shared as Editor or Commenter on the sheets relevant to their role.
To change someone’s access, the Sheet Admin can do this from the Share button at the top right of the sheet.
2. Notifications and how to manage them
Smartsheet sends notifications when things happen in sheets you’re shared on — changes, comments, mentions, and automated alerts. For new users, the volume can feel like a lot. It doesn’t have to be.
Managing your notification preferences
Click your profile icon at the top right and select My Profile or Notification Center. You can control which events trigger email notifications and which appear only in the in-app notification bell. Turn off what isn’t relevant to you.
Update requests
Update requests are notifications sent to specific people asking them to update rows in a sheet. They’re typically triggered by automations — when a task is overdue, or on a scheduled basis.
When you receive an update request by email, you can respond directly in the email without logging into Smartsheet. Fill in the fields and submit. Your update appears on the sheet immediately. This is particularly useful for people who don’t work in Smartsheet day to day.
@mentions
You can @mention a colleague in any comment by typing @ followed by their name or email. They’ll receive a notification with a direct link to the row. Use this when you need a specific person’s attention on something.
3. Keeping communication in context
One of the most practical habits to build early is using row-level comments to capture decisions, questions, and context directly against the relevant record — rather than in a separate email thread.
A comment on the row is always there. An email chain is not. Over time this makes it much easier to trace why something was done, what was agreed, and by whom.
Comments are visible to everyone with access to the sheet. Don’t use them for anything you wouldn’t share with the full team.
4. What you can and can’t change
Inadvertent structural changes — to column names, formulas, or automations — can break reports and dashboard widgets that depend on them. Make changes with care.
| Action | Who can do it |
| Edit cell values | Anyone shared as Editor or above |
| Add or delete rows | Anyone shared as Editor or above |
| Change column structure (add, rename, delete columns) | Sheet Admin only — do not do this without guidance |
| Edit or disable automations | Sheet Admin only — do not do this without guidance |
| Modify dashboard layout or widgets | Sheet Admin only |
| Change sharing permissions | Sheet Admin or System Administrator |
If you’re not sure whether something is safe to change, the safest default is to leave it alone. Structural changes to sheets are best handled by whoever built the solution or your internal Smartsheet administrator.
Is your Smartsheet setup working as hard as it should?
If your team is using Smartsheet but not getting the visibility and efficiency you expected, Prodactive can help. We review, improve, and build Smartsheet solutions for organisations across every sector. Talk to the Prodactive team
Free template: explore a working solution
Download the Simple Project Solution to see how sharing, automations, and dashboard connections are configured in a complete Prodactive build. Download the Simple Project Solution
NEXT IN THE SERIES: Stage 4: Getting help – when to self-serve and when to contact us
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QUESTIONS?
If something isn’t clear or you’d like to talk through your setup, get in touch with the Prodactive team. We’re here to help.
