Smartsheet Overview
What is Smartsheet?
Smartsheet is a SaaS, enterprise-ready cloud app for work management and collaboration, trusted by more than 80,000 businesses and millions of users in over 175 countries.
Regarded for its online project management, collaboration, and file sharing features, Smartsheet's intuitive spreadsheet-like app is used broadly to track and manage diverse types of work including: team projects and task lists, customer information, sales pipelines, event schedules, and business processes.
Customers can access their accounts online or through integrations with leading web services. Smartsheet is a top-rated online project management solution for Google Apps and Salesforce, and is also integrated with leading web apps such as Box, Dropbox and Zapier.
Since 2006, Smartsheet has established a proven track record for ease of use, security, and system availability. Customers include small and medium businesses, Fortune 500 companies, and academic institutions, as well as local and federal government agencies.
The management team is composed of experienced business leaders with a track record of building innovative, easy-to-use business software. The company’s headquarters are located in Bellevue, Washington. Investors include Sutter Hill Ventures, Insight Venture Partners, and Madrona Venture Group.
Smartsheet Overview
Pricing
Pricing options
Plans start at $14.00/mo. (*Users create sheets and decide who and how others can collaborate on them. Collaborators are invited to sheets with edit or view permissions. A user requires a Smartsheet license, collaborators have free access.) Nonprofit, schools, gov't agency receive additional discounts on annual plans.
Smartsheet Features
Screenshots
Smartsheet Reviews
Smartsheet Reviews
Project Management in the Cloud
It does help us track projects and the alerts we've set up help keep users aware of deadlines. So for that, Smartsheet works well. We've found a workaround for the one area we've paid extra for--the reporting--that is deficient. The biggest selling point is its approachability: anyone that is familiar with a spreadsheet application should be able to intuitively understand how SmartSheet basically works. That at least removes the biggest obstacle for a project management solution being ignored: the difficulty of use.
SmartSheet - A different approach to project management tools
Project management is a very important part of any Business operation and as such, its important to explore options. Smartsheet appeals to us because we have a strong background with Microsoft Excel and adopting it has been easy.
Our goal is finding a project management solution that works for our teams and ensuring that they actually use it. While everyone has their personal preference, SmartSheet was a better fit as a lot of our teams already use Excel extensively.
Smartsheets enhances our productivity
My overall experience with Smartsheet has been exceedingly positive. I particularly find the project management tool with Gantt charts very useful and they have helped me bring significant projects to completion. They have many useful templates such as task lists, forms, sales pipeline, and project management or you can easily create your own. I often pin photographs and logos to various rows. There is an important reminder function which I utilize heavily and the ability to share this application from teammates and ask for updates greatly facilitates collaboration
Great software to create a bespoke solution
I work for a small construction company who used to keep all their information "in their heads, or on the back of a fag packet"!!! This has revolutionised the way they work and not only stopped them from forgetting things but also given them the ability to look at live costs and income.
They now have a dashboard to see the 'big picture', individual Reports to show their own specific projects, an automated transfer of information to accounts when they mark a job as complete, reminders, comments so they can stay up to date with any info added by other people, and so many other little 'life hacks' that make their lives easier.
Smartsheet has changed the way we all work immeasurably for the better. I couldn't recommend it more highly.
Multi-functional Tool for Project Management
One of my team members was able to create a content calendar for a broad editorial group within the platform and it worked great and had excellent adoption from a cross-functional team. Vet it carefully for your particular needs before making an investment -- SS has a lot to offer for the right projects.
Compare overall rating with alternatives
Compare with alternatives
Project Management in the Cloud
Pros
SmartSheet allows individuals and teams to work projects together, plotting milestones and critical paths, tracking tasks, creating alerts, and using gantt charts to quickly view how various team members are allocated and intersect. It does a good job of integrating with Office 365, allowing you to share links to files in OneDrive and to Skype within SmartSheet. The revamped interface makes it closer to working in Excel, which is the really the whole premise to Smartsheet: providing a familiar spreadsheet interface for working projects. To that end, there is a wealth of functionality for formatting cells to indicate project stages, task completion, etc. You can even apply conditional logic to have cells change color when a task reaches a certain stage. There are good controls for determining levels of access, so you prevent changes to your sheet except by authorized persons. Overall, it's a good tool for managing projects.
Cons
The reporting functionality we paid extra for is a joke. Instead, we've resorted to pulling data into Microsoft's Power BI to create reports and visualize data. And like many other Cloud-based services, there's a core product and then tiers of functionality that cost significantly more. Smartsheet is a capable product, but I'm frankly unsure it's cost is justified by its maturity. I've had the feeling I've been paying for what's coming, not for what's already there. But since we've invested in it, I guess we'll stay the course.
SmartSheet - A different approach to project management tools
Project management is a very important part of any Business operation and as such, its important to explore options. Smartsheet appeals to us because we have a strong background with Microsoft Excel and adopting it has been easy.
Our goal is finding a project management solution that works for our teams and ensuring that they actually use it. While everyone has their personal preference, SmartSheet was a better fit as a lot of our teams already use Excel extensively.
Pros
SmartSheet is a good project management tool that has an interface similar to Excel.
Pros:
1. Multiple Project Views - Project managers will appreciate the multiple viewing options such as Gannt and Kanban, standard spreadsheet and even a calendar view. Many options for different managers.
2. If Spreadsheets are your thing, SmartSheet is worth a try - If you and your team use spreadsheets a lot, you may appreciate that SmartSheet is based off the concept of spreadsheets, you can adopt and add different sheets for a variety of projects. So whether basic or advanced, a host of users can easily adapt to Smartsheet if they know how to use a spreadsheet, even to the point of adding formulas and formatting of cells. This is a huge selling point which makes SmartSheet a good option.
3. As Good as Project Management tools get - As a project management tool Smartsheet covers the basics. You get milestones, task management, comments, collaboration and project management and as mentioned before the view options.
4. You can add collaborators to a project for free - A good thing is that you can add multiple “users” to access Smartsheets without paying extra. If you do need to give them more privileges, there are options to set them up.
5. Support for Smartsheet is stellar - There is a thriving community of users and help guides and videos if you ever find yourself stuck and not sure what to do.
6. Smartsheet also integrates well with Microsoft Office 365.
Cons
There is not a lot to gripe about SmartSheets other than on occasion, the app can lag or suffer an error and finding what error it is and how to fix it can be a little frustrating.
There is a limitation with exporting reports. If you want to display data in a visual way, you may need to manually extract the data and then add it into another application. If the reports feature could be improved and maybe export in a usable format it would be a solid winner.
Smartsheets enhances our productivity
My overall experience with Smartsheet has been exceedingly positive. I particularly find the project management tool with Gantt charts very useful and they have helped me bring significant projects to completion. They have many useful templates such as task lists, forms, sales pipeline, and project management or you can easily create your own. I often pin photographs and logos to various rows. There is an important reminder function which I utilize heavily and the ability to share this application from teammates and ask for updates greatly facilitates collaboration
Pros
Smartsheet is very intuitive to use. Anyone familiar with spreadsheets can get up and running immediately. The ability to pin documents and URLs and comments to any row is an important productivity feature because it makes information easily available when you want it. While in Business School we used a number of collaboration software products to work on projects with our teammates but when I was introduced me to smartsheets I decided that that was the tool for our company and I'm glad I did.
Cons
I have experienced no cons with this project.
Great software to create a bespoke solution
I work for a small construction company who used to keep all their information "in their heads, or on the back of a fag packet"!!! This has revolutionised the way they work and not only stopped them from forgetting things but also given them the ability to look at live costs and income.
They now have a dashboard to see the 'big picture', individual Reports to show their own specific projects, an automated transfer of information to accounts when they mark a job as complete, reminders, comments so they can stay up to date with any info added by other people, and so many other little 'life hacks' that make their lives easier.
Smartsheet has changed the way we all work immeasurably for the better. I couldn't recommend it more highly.
Pros
I love the Smartsheet Community who will help you find ways to adapt Smartsheet to suit each individual need you may have. I've been using the software for years and every time I've wanted to use it for something new we've found a way! Sometimes there have been delays due to the capacity not being there YET, but it's easy to submit a Product Enhancement Request.
There are updates and innovations ALL THE TIME and while they're not shoved down your throat, there's plenty of support out there if you want it, not only from the Community but also videos and webinars (live or recorded). If you've got the motivation and imagination then I think the possibilities are unlimited, without needing to be a programmer or have any coding knowledge.
Cons
There's not much I can say that's bad about Smartsheet. I find it slightly difficult that it's very US based and I'm in the UK, but that's true of most comparable software.
I'm also not keen on the Learning Centre as it sometimes assumes a level of knowledge that is beyond me and I find it incomprehensible! It's not a problem though as I can easily turn to the Community!
Multi-functional Tool for Project Management
One of my team members was able to create a content calendar for a broad editorial group within the platform and it worked great and had excellent adoption from a cross-functional team. Vet it carefully for your particular needs before making an investment -- SS has a lot to offer for the right projects.
Pros
SmartSheet provides a lot of great features: easy-to-use "card view", quick Gantt charts and easy entry of tasks. I really like the simplicity of the tool as it feels very much like Excel at first blush. The two levels of access -- one for power users and one for light editors -- helps keep the tool in a very affordable price range. I absolutely love the ability to create a web intake form within minutes that can be published live for use without a login to the system. The form is highly configurable and is a great way to grab structured feedback or details from individuals.
Cons
SmartSheet is not a fantastic project management tool for software development. While the web-based intake form is decent for reporting bugs and it is a relatively simplistic tool, tracking items from beginning to end and creating validation loops should be easy but is not. Granted, we were using the tool for something it wasn't technically designed for, but much of the functionality is available within the platform for "light" development teams. Unfortunately, the implementation of specific task-driven items simply wasn't where it needed to be.
Compare user recommendation rating with alternatives
Compare with alternatives
Smartsheet Pricing
Smartsheet Pricing
Plans start at $14.00/mo. (*Users create sheets and decide who and how others can collaborate on them. Collaborators are invited to sheets with edit or view permissions. A user requires a Smartsheet license, collaborators have free access.) Nonprofit, schools, gov't agency receive additional discounts on annual plans.
Plans start at $14.00/mo. (*Users create sheets and decide who and how others can collaborate on them. Collaborators are invited to sheets with edit or view permissions. A user requires a Smartsheet license, collaborators have free access.) Nonprofit, schools, gov't agency receive additional discounts on annual plans.
Compare value for money rating with alternatives
Compare with alternatives
Smartsheet Features
Smartsheet Features
Compare features rating with alternatives
Compare with alternatives
Categories
Categories
Video Tutorials
Video Tutorials
Additional information for Smartsheet
Additional information for Smartsheet
Key features of Smartsheet
- Access control
- Access via mobile & tablet devices
- Activity dashboard
- Activity management
- Activity tracking
- Assignment management
- Attach files & Google Docs to any task (row)
- Automatic backup
- Automatic notifications
- Automatic reminders
- Calendar management
- Calendar sync with Google
- Card view
- Cell linking
- Charting
- Collaboration tools
- Collaborative review
- Collaborative workspace
- Collapsible sub-tasks
- Commenting
- Communication management
- Custom fields
- Customizable reporting
- Dashboard creation
- Data import / export
- Data sync
- Deadline tracking
- Desktop notifications
- Document management
- Document review
- Document storage
- Drag & drop interface
- Email alerts
- Email integration
- Email invitations & reminders
- Email notifications
- Employee management
- Familiar spreadsheet-like interface
- Feedback collection
- File management
- File sharing
- Filtered views
- Flexible: customize your project to work the way you do
- Forms management
- Gantt charts
- Multiple projects
- Periodic reporting
- Permission management
- Prioritizing
- Project management
- Project notes
- Project planning
- Project time tracking
- Project tracking
- Projections
- Real time data
- Real time notifications
- Real time updates
- Receiving
- Recourse management
- SSL security
- Scheduled reporting
- Secure data storage
- Status tracking
- Task dependencies
- Task management
- Task planning
- Task scheduling
- Task tracking
- Template management
- Third party integration
- To-do list
- User activity monitoring
- View history of changes on any cell
- Web forms
Benefits
Seamless integration with Google Apps:
- Sign in with your Google account info
- Sync with Google Calendar
- Works with Google Drive: attach Drive files to any row in Smartsheet
- Update project info from Gmail
- Import/Export between Google Spreadsheet and Smartsheet
- Import Google Contacts
- Open attached Microsoft Project and Excel files in Google Drive
Salesforce integration:
Smartsheet and Salesforce work together for ultimate productivity. Link project sheets to Salesforce accounts, contacts, opportunities or cases for real-time collaboration on project status, files, and discussions. Other perks include:
- Single sign-on from Salesforce
- Create new project sheets from Salesforce
- Link to existing project sheets
- Access key project sheets from any Salesforce account, contact, opportunity or case.
Box integration:
Collaboration takes on new meaning with the Smartsheet and Box integration. The cloud apps are easy to use together and offer instant value. Teams can quickly share and collaborate on files related to specific projects with internal staff as well as external teams, including vendors clients and contractors. Some other benefits include:
- Perfect for the Small Teams or Large Enterprise: Smartsheet and Box are easy to use, don't require IT to install or manage, and immediately deliver value to users
- Add Structure, Save Time: Access files from Box in the context of your project or task
- No Need to Upload New Versions: All changes made to documents in Box are instantly available in Smartsheet
- Share Files with Teams Near and Far: Smartsheet's project sharing and row sending capabilities allow you to share files in Box with other team members with a click of the mouse
- A Little or A Lot: Link a specific document - or an entire folder of documents - to your Smartsheet project
GetApp Analysis
GetApp Analysis
A cloud-based project management solution, Smartsheet is an integrated platform combining essential tools for work management, file sharing, and collaboration. Using a familiar spreadsheet interface that requires zero to minimal learning curve, it enables businesses of all sizes to organize and coordinate work of any kind, from organizing a product launch to structuring budgets or deal pipelines.
Flexible and customizable, you can set it up to your liking, instead of you adapting to it. With all your tasks, files, documents, and processes in one centralized place that your team and collaborators can access anytime, anywhere, running your day-to-day operations doesn’t have to involve numerous phone calls, email or SMS exchanges to get things done.
Smartsheet’s core features include Gantt charts, file sharing, collaboration, alerts and reminders, and reporting.
What is Smartsheet?
With the simplicity of a spreadsheet but the power of a project management, database, and collaboration solution in one, Smartsheet is used by more than 5 million users and 60,000+ businesses in 175+ countries. The mobile app enables on-the-go project management and task completion, and automated push notifications alert pertinent people of changes in real time.
Workspaces can be created to share sheets, folders, and reports, and a sheet can be published as an interactive sheet or read-only HTML page that you can embed on your website or link in an email. Smartsheet’s cell linking functionality enables you to link data across multiple sheets, such as when you’re aggregating departmental budgets in a single sheet or creating cross-project dependencies. Linked cells automatically update when information in the source sheet changes.
Smartsheet Main Features
Gantt Charts
Gantt charts are a visual way to plan and schedule projects, assess timelines, analyze resource assignments, and understand task prioritization and dependencies. Smartsheet’s interactive Gantt charts allow teams to stay up to date on the progress of a project through color-coded task status levels that can be set up via a simple rule called conditional formatting. This way, even at a glance, those involved in the project are immediately aware of what’s going on.
Smartsheet’s user-friendly drag-and-drop interface makes it easy for you – even when you’re new to Gantt charts – to update a project, adjust a date, or reassign a task.
File Sharing
At the heart of every team-based project are files that take on various forms – PDFs, documents, spreadsheets, presentations, images, videos, and more. And then there are threaded discussions and free-form notes to keep everyone in the loop and apprised of the project’s progress. Smartsheet enables team members and other stakeholders to collaborate on various pieces of a project through file sharing.
Files and attachments are in one central location, and available to you anytime. To attach an item to a row on your sheet, simply click on the plus sign in the paperclip column or go to the row menu and select Row Attachments from the options. You’re then ready to drag and drop files to the attachment window. You can also click on the Attach button to navigate to the locations of the files you want attached. Attachments can be from your computer or sites such as Dropbox, Google Drive, Evernote, and Box.
Collaboration
For teams to effectively collaborate on tasks, Smartsheet allows you to share your sheets, send row attachments, or publish sheets as a webpage. Multiple people can simultaneously work on a sheet, and the latest version of a shared sheet is available to collaborators anywhere, anytime, and on any device.
Smartsheet’s Highlight Changes feature is a handy tool to visually keep track of recent changes to a shared sheet. Alerts can be set up to notify collaborators of any changes. There’s also a lock feature you can use for rows or columns you don’t want changed. Update requests to rows or columns can be requested, and individual rows can be shared even with others without a Smartsheet account.
An entire sheet can be sent as an email attachment or published as a webpage, which can be accessed by anyone with a link. The published sheet can be made editable or read-only.
Alerts and Reminders
The Smartsheet Alerts and Reminders feature enables you and your team to keep track of changes to a sheet and remember important dates, such as upcoming deadlines, meetings, and board room presentations, among others.
To create an alert for changes made to a sheet, go to the Alerts tab and click on New Notification. Specify who receives the notification, how often, and under which circumstances or conditions. For new reminders, from the Alerts tab, click on the New Reminder button. Identify who gets the reminder and the date it should be sent. Alerts and notifications are received via email.
Reporting
For a view into the status of your tasks and projects, Smartsheet’s reporting functionality provides high-level insight into tasks that are behind schedule, those that are becoming due, aren’t assigned yet, assigned to a specific person, and so on. Just like sheets, reports can be shared or sent as an attachment. They can also be saved as Excel or PDF files, or sent out on a recurring basis.
To create a report, click on the Add New (+) button and select Blank Report. The Report Builder then lets you select the sheets you want included in the report. Depending on the type of report you need, you can choose a single or multiple sheets. The columns you include in your reports are totally up to you.
Smartsheet Integrations
Aside from an open API that allows you to build your own integrations, Smartsheet readily integrates with third-party apps such as Microsoft Outlook, Evernote, DocuSign, Box, Dropbox, Google Apps, iCal, Harvest, MailChimp, Marketo, Salesforce, JIRA, Office Timeline, OneLogin, Tableau, Zapier, and many more.
Smartsheet Pricing
When your free 30-day trial expires, you can upgrade to any of Smartsheet’s subscription options: Basic, Team, or Enterprise. Basic is for individuals and is priced at $14 per month, if billed annually. It can accommodate an unlimited number of collaborators, has a total storage capacity of 3 GB, and supports Gantt charts, web forms, mobile, customization, and a total of 10 sheets.
Team is priced at $39 per month, if billed annually, for three creators and unlimited collaborators. Storage space is 45+ GB. The app accommodates 150+ sheets and carries all Basic features plus reporting, user management, groups, and resource management. Each additional creator costs $9 per month.
Pricing for the Enterprise account can be requested from Smartsheet’s sales team. Aside from all the features available in the Team plan, the Enterprise subscription covers unlimited sheets, unlimited file storage, dedicated support, single sign-on, and automated provisioning.
Discounts are available for schools and nonprofits.
Smartsheet Bottom Line
- Project management software with the familiar look and feel of an Excel spreadsheet
- Integrated platform for work management, collaboration, and file sharing
- Enables sheets and reports to be shared or sent to people without a Smartsheet account
- Has numerous sheet templates available in the templates library
- Available as a mobile app for the iPhone and iPad, Android, and Kindle Fire
Smartsheet FAQs
Smartsheet FAQs
Below are some frequently asked questions for Smartsheet.
Q. What type of pricing plans does Smartsheet offer?
Smartsheet offers the following pricing plans:
Starting from: US$14.00/month
Pricing model: Subscription
Free Trial: Available
Plans start at $14.00/mo. (*Users create sheets and decide who and how others can collaborate on them. Collaborators are invited to sheets with edit or view permissions. A user requires a Smartsheet license, collaborators have free access.) Nonprofit, schools, gov't agency receive additional discounts on annual plans.
Q. What are the main features of Smartsheet?
Smartsheet offers the following features:
- Access control
- Access via mobile & tablet devices
- Activity dashboard
- Activity management
- Activity tracking
- Assignment management
- Attach files & Google Docs to any task (row)
- Automatic backup
- Automatic notifications
- Automatic reminders
- Calendar management
- Calendar sync with Google
- Card view
- Cell linking
- Charting
- Collaboration tools
- Collaborative review
- Collaborative workspace
- Collapsible sub-tasks
- Commenting
- Communication management
- Custom fields
- Customizable reporting
- Dashboard creation
- Data import / export
- Data sync
- Deadline tracking
- Desktop notifications
- Document management
- Document review
- Document storage
- Drag & drop interface
- Email alerts
- Email integration
- Email invitations & reminders
- Email notifications
- Employee management
- Familiar spreadsheet-like interface
- Feedback collection
- File management
- File sharing
- Filtered views
- Flexible: customize your project to work the way you do
- Forms management
- Gantt charts
- Multiple projects
- Periodic reporting
- Permission management
- Prioritizing
- Project management
- Project notes
- Project planning
- Project time tracking
- Project tracking
- Projections
- Real time data
- Real time notifications
- Real time updates
- Receiving
- Recourse management
- SSL security
- Scheduled reporting
- Secure data storage
- Status tracking
- Task dependencies
- Task management
- Task planning
- Task scheduling
- Task tracking
- Template management
- Third party integration
- To-do list
- User activity monitoring
- View history of changes on any cell
- Web forms
Q. Who are the typical users of Smartsheet?
Smartsheet has the following typical customers:
Freelancers, Large Enterprises, Mid Size Business, Non Profit, Public Administrations, Small Business
Q. What languages does Smartsheet support?
Smartsheet supports the following languages:
English, French, German, Italian, Portuguese, Russian, Spanish
Q. What type of pricing plans does Smartsheet offer?
Smartsheet has the following pricing plans:
Subscription
Q. Does Smartsheet support mobile devices?
Smartsheet supports the following devices:
Android, iPhone, iPad
Q. What other apps does Smartsheet integrate with?
Smartsheet integrates with the following applications:
Azuqua, Bitium, ClicData, Dropbox, Evernote, Klipfolio, Meisterplan, Salesforce Sales Cloud, Slemma, Zapier
Q. What level of support does Smartsheet offer?
Smartsheet offers the following support options:
Knowledge Base, Online Support, Phone Support, Video Tutorials
It does help us track projects and the alerts we've set up help keep users aware of deadlines. So for that, Smartsheet works well. We've found a workaround for the one area we've paid extra for--the reporting--that is deficient. The biggest selling point is its approachability: anyone that is familiar with a spreadsheet application should be able to intuitively understand how SmartSheet basically works. That at least removes the biggest obstacle for a project management solution being ignored: the difficulty of use.