With the smartsheet for gmail plugin, you can quickly copy the content of an email message (any text and attachments) and add that information to the rows of your sheets without ever leaving gmail.
once the information is captured in smartsheet, all smartsheet collaborators will be able to see the information and act on it. the smartsheet gmail plugin works with gmail and the gmail app for android phones.
install the plugin and connect gmail to smartsheet
To use the plugin, you’ll first install it from the smartsheet page on the gsuite marketplace. Once the plugin is installed, you will need to connect your gmail account with your smartsheet account. you only have to do this once.
If you’re using the gmail app for android phones, the plugin will also be available there once you’ve installed and connected it using these steps.
note: if you’re a g suite administrator, you can install the smartsheet gmail plugin for your entire domain. for additional information on installing plugins at the domain level, see the guide on google g-suite help center. (It may take up to 24 hours before the domain-level installation is complete.)
get the plugin and install it
- from the g suite marketplace, navigate to the smartsheet gmail plugin and click the install button.
- choose the gmail account you want use with plugin. (if prompted, sign in with your gmail account; use the email address and password you use with gmail. you may need to click install again).
- when prompted with a message “the smartsheet plugin for gmail wants…”, click allow.
when you see a “smartsheet… has been installed!” message, you’ll know you’ve succeeded.
connect your gmail and smartsheet accounts
to connect your gmail account with your smartsheet account:
- From an Internet browser, navigate to Gmail and open an email message.
- To open the Smartsheet for Gmail add-on, click the Smartsheet logo in the add-on panel (the upper-right corner of the email window).
NOTE: If you don’t see the icon in the add-on panel right away, you may need to refresh your browser window. - In the Smartsheet add-on panel, click CONNECT TO SMARTSHEET.
- A new window will open with a message saying that the app is requesting access to Smartsheet.
- Click ALLOW to allow the add-on to access Smartsheet.
You’re done! Now that you’ve installed and connected the plugin, your smartsheet account will be available in the plugin panel. to view sheets from the panel, click browse all sheets.
use the smartsheet plugin for gmail
once the smartsheet for gmail plugin is installed and connected to your smartsheet account, you will be able to add information from your email to new or existing rows in your sheets. specifically, you may:
- add a comment containing the body of the message and its metadata (who the message was from, the subject, the date it was sent, etc.)
- include email message attachments as comment attachments
- modify the content of other fields in a row directly from the plugin panel (i.e. you don’t need switch to smartsheet to make changes to sheet data)
the way to do these things will be almost the same, regardless of whether you access gmail from a web browser or through the gmail app for android phones.
capture information from your email and add it to a row in smartsheet
Important: As you work, keep in mind that you can only copy text from one email message at a time. if you navigate away from one message to another message, even if that message is in the same email thread, before you click apply changes, your changes will be lost.
- from gmail or the gmail app for android phones, open an email message.
- to display the smartsheet dashboard in gmail, select the smartsheet logo in the upper right corner from the email window. mobile: Tap the plug-in icon at the bottom of the email message.
- Locate the sheet you want to add the email content to. you can do it by searching or browsing.
- search: type the name of the sheet in the search field near the top of the plugin panel and select search. -or-
- browse: select browse all sheets to browse through the available sheets.
- new row: To add the text of the email message to a new row, select add a row at the top of the plugin panel. you will have the option to write information in the main column of the row. (it’s good practice to write a value here, eg the name of the task). the new row will be added to the bottom of the sheet.
- existing row: To add the email to an existing row in the sheet, select the row in the plugin panel. the content of the main column of the row will be displayed in the application panel. you can change or update the content.
when you see success! message, you know that the row was added or updated as specified.
Note: Certain restrictions apply when copying the content of an email message into rows; See the “Troubleshoot…” section below for more information.
troubleshoot the smartsheet gmail plugin
When I enter a value in a field in the plugin panel, I get a message similar to the following: “The value of the cell in column 00028901279323 does not conform to the strict requirements for the type column_type.”
In smartsheet, it is possible to restrict data entry for certain types of columns. if you try to enter a value in a column that does not support that type (for example, if you enter a number in a contact column), you will receive an error. in this situation, you will need to enter the correct type of data in the field.
I can’t modify some column values from the plugin.
When you are working in the smartsheet for gmail plugin, you will not be able to edit values in cells that contain the following:
- date
- duration
- checkbox
- formulas
- contact list (when multiple contacts per cell)
Note that if you have the appropriate permissions, you can change these values directly in smartsheet.
I don’t see an option to install the plugin (or the install button is grayed out).
If you are using Gmail in an environment where an administrator manages G Suite, your administrator may have disabled the use of G Suite Marketplace plugins. If this is the case, you will need to contact your administrator and request that they enable the smartsheet add-on for use at your company. For more information, ask your g suite administrator to enable or disable a marketplace app for users at the g suite admin help (google support site).
I want to open smartsheet directly from the plugin panel.
once you add information to the sheet, you will receive a success! message. you can click the sheet name in this message to open the smart sheet in a new browser tab.
I installed the plugin, but the smartsheet icon doesn’t appear in gmail.
The first time you use the plugin after installing it, you may need to refresh your browser window before you can see the smartsheet icon in the plugin panel. Also, depending on how many plugins you have, you may need to scroll through the list of plugins to find and select the smartsheet icon.
I can only see a few lines of the email message in the plugin panel.
Currently, the plugin panel displays only a few lines of text at a time. to review the full text of the comment, click see full text. (note that this full-text view is read-only at this time). If you want to more easily modify the content of the email message, switch to smartsheet, locate the row that the comment was added to, and modify the comment there. For more information on working with comments, see the related articles section below.
I want to uninstall the plugin. how do i do this?
To uninstall any plugins you get from the g suite marketplace, you’ll need to start from the g suite marketplace site. For more information, see the “manage apps (users)” section of the g suite marketplace article in google help.
I can’t see the plugin panel from my inbox.
The plug-in will appear when you select an email message to view. When you open an email, you’ll see the smartsheet logo in the pane on the right side of the window. click the smartsheet logo to open the plugin panel.
I can’t see the plugin panel when viewing an email from the desktop browser version of the plugin (but I can see it from my mobile device).
Some third-party chrome browser extensions still do not automatically detect gmail plugins and may cover the right part of the screen, including the plugins panel.
To fix this, you may be able to disable elements of the chrome browser extension that are causing the problem. For more information on how to manage chrome extensions, see install and manage extensions in the google chrome web store help.
Note: As you identify chrome extensions that exhibit this behavior (ie, as you find extensions that cover the plugin panel), please notify the extension developers directly so they can fix the problem. Developer contact information is provided in the chrome web store listing for the extension.