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
Enterprise features and pricing mean you can probably find a startup alternative
I hated it a few years back when I first started using it. The thing that won me over and made me a power user was the interface refresh about a year ago. I then took the Smartsheet training to be certified and that opened my eyes to the power of the tool (and also to the fact that the sheets I hated were users in our company using it very, very WRONG). Anyway, while we do love it, there are a few antiquated things like concurrent editing that are truly broken (Google sheets can do this just fine!) and the recent price increase for our contract means that we are probably moving to another tool.
SmartSheet- Highly recommended Project Management Software
We have a global team of collaborators often working on the same document. SmartSheet, being a web-based collaborative tool makes it effortless to delegate and track tasks, allocate resources, and oversee budget in a concise form. The transparency in this tool is exemplary as one can view activity logs and track changes. Unlike its main competitor MS Project, SmartSheet is capable of tracking real-time workflow wherein changes made by one individual can be reflected across the entire team in an instant.
It functions spectacularly on a range of operating systems (I use it on iOS as well) and has proven to be a cohesive platform to visualize project data in real time, all in one place for all relevant team members to view and work on. I would highly recommend SmartSheet for teams who are looking for project management software that requires minimum training with maximum output.
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.
A bit un-human and cheeky
Disconnected - we use InfusionSoft and despite the software being hard to use sometimes and changes happen constantly, they have mitigated risk of leaving by investing in human contact and support.
I posted something to the Smartsheet community and hear nothing.
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.
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Enterprise features and pricing mean you can probably find a startup alternative
Pros
--You can easily switch between different views of the same data, e.g. grid vs. Kanban
--Dashboards and reporting are both powerful
--Growing number of integrations
--Commenting per-row is excellent
--Can be used as a simple spreadsheet
--Security/permissions are robust and intuitive
--Excellent training and certs available
--Forms feature is pretty complete for basic stuff
--Very extensive formula capabilities, almost like Excel
--The "business" pricing tier would actually be quite adequate for my group's needs, vs. the enterprise plan
--Nesting/hierarchy of rows can be useful
Cons
--No in-cell formatting
--Awkward multi-user editing, no auto-save, other users keep resetting views
--Reporting is difficult, meaning that you have to create separate complex reports instead of just saved views
--Not a true database or app builder
--Notifications system is wonky, delayed, and hard for new users to tame
--Very easy to abuse and misuse, even worse than Excel because you can add in the nesting/hierarchy (we have one user in particular that makes the most gawdawful sheets you've ever seen, partly because of the inherent Smartsheet interface)
--Attachments are pretty rough, not easily visible or visual, and no desktop app integrations (e.g. save a file from Word to SmartSheet)
--No concept of a "document" or app, only the spreadsheet motif; can't do notes or instructions very easily, for example, so people overload rows for this and that makes reporting even harder when you have to manually select rows
--Forms feature not embeddable or graphically complete with formatting to make it look nice
--Not clear how you combine formulas and forms without overwriting formulas at the bottom--I haven't figured this out yet even after years of using it
--Enterprise pricing is now forcing us to consider alternatives, including lower tiers of Smartsheet
SmartSheet- Highly recommended Project Management Software
We have a global team of collaborators often working on the same document. SmartSheet, being a web-based collaborative tool makes it effortless to delegate and track tasks, allocate resources, and oversee budget in a concise form. The transparency in this tool is exemplary as one can view activity logs and track changes. Unlike its main competitor MS Project, SmartSheet is capable of tracking real-time workflow wherein changes made by one individual can be reflected across the entire team in an instant.
It functions spectacularly on a range of operating systems (I use it on iOS as well) and has proven to be a cohesive platform to visualize project data in real time, all in one place for all relevant team members to view and work on. I would highly recommend SmartSheet for teams who are looking for project management software that requires minimum training with maximum output.
Pros
SmartSheet is a cloud-based tool that helps Project Managers better align their resources, cost and time. Being a part of a virtual team responsible for collaborating whilst managing critical projects, Smartsheet has been indispensable in helping us track project timeline through interactive Gantt charts, establish critical paths, manage team resources, analyze budget and costs, in addition, to document sharing through OneDrive, Skype and even the app.
It is definitely reliable, has a simple user interface, flexibility in function, offers real-time data tracking through dashboards and training additional collaborators is uncomplicated. I love how SmartSheet offers a powerful conditional formatting feature, visualization of data that is editable and printable for presentations and has a spreadsheet-like interface (like Excel) yet is straightforward, unlike its counterparts.
Another thumbs up feature is that SmartSheet offers a 30-day trial wherein full functionality can be tested and project plans produced before actually investing in the software!
Cons
Our firm works from Sunday to Thursday (unlike the USA) and though they are advised well ahead, maintenance windows don't always align with our schedule, and we have to work around that. One attribute that can definitely be improved is the option of turning on auto-save, instead of manually saving the document. Often the development of a comprehensive project plan across several collaborators is quite intense and even if one of them fails to manually save the document, it is quite a hassle.
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!
A bit un-human and cheeky
Disconnected - we use InfusionSoft and despite the software being hard to use sometimes and changes happen constantly, they have mitigated risk of leaving by investing in human contact and support.
I posted something to the Smartsheet community and hear nothing.
Pros
Collaboration
Action features
How to tutorials/onboarding is good
Webforms
Cons
Lack of a chat support system or ticketing system
The upsell on functions - have free collaborators now having to pay to do things they could of done prior even though they had been using the system for years. Understand if certain features are now paid to commercialise the product, however I think it is unfair to penalise historic users. If you looked at a micro level with us you will see a 200% growth in our subscription over its lifetime and I feel this short term and automated upsell could and has damaged perceptions of the overall product. 18 months ago I would of been a 10 regarding recommedations and now it is less.
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.
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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.
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Smartsheet Features
Smartsheet Features
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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
I hated it a few years back when I first started using it. The thing that won me over and made me a power user was the interface refresh about a year ago. I then took the Smartsheet training to be certified and that opened my eyes to the power of the tool (and also to the fact that the sheets I hated were users in our company using it very, very WRONG). Anyway, while we do love it, there are a few antiquated things like concurrent editing that are truly broken (Google sheets can do this just fine!) and the recent price increase for our contract means that we are probably moving to another tool.