An online work execution platform for any size organization.
4.3/5 (1018 reviews)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
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.
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.
Overall, my experience with Smartsheet has been wonderful. The extremely active Community has made all the difference in the world, answering questions within an hour or two. The staff are also active in the Community and you can see their passion for the application and truly helping their customers. Smartsheet is highly worth the investment.
Pros
Smartsheet has so much going for it. It truly fits the new technological world that we live in by providing more than just the basics. Being a cloud-based application (SaaS), and compatible with mobile devices, makes it more functional across the board. It mostly touts itself as a project management tool, which is very true. Most project managers utilize certain applications that require the project to be saved down to a file, which is not easily shareable. Smartsheet can handle the same project management tools and live in cyberspace that can be utilized by numerous people, which different levels of access (viewing, editing, administering) and different views (tasks, gantt, kanban, etc.), and allow people to make comments, add attachments, and more. The most use I have made of Smartsheet within my organization is using it like a spreadsheet. I'm able to have numerous sheets for different departments where they have access to only their own sheets and update only what they need to update. Then I can create a new sheet that combines information from all of the sheets that will auto-update from the original sheets. I can also create reports and dashboards (with charts, metrics, etc.) based on information from all the different sheets. It's quite functional and utilizes much of the same fundamental logic that Excel provides. The Smartsheet website has an extremely detailed (and searchable) Help section and very active Community. Even includes videos to help guide!
Cons
Smartsheet does have some limitations. Most specifically, it isn't Excel and it isn't Project, so users shouldn't expect it to do everything those applications can do. However, there are times when it seems obvious that a particular functionality should be included that isn't. With that said, Smartsheet does a great job of listening to the Community and is constantly improving the application with enhancements to help the Community with its most voted on requests. Another thing that is frustrating is when an error pops up. More often than not, the error is written in a way that doesn't tell the user how to fix the error. Again, when this happens, I just reach out to the Community and get the answers I need.
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.
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.
Great customer service. Ever-improving features. 100% cloud so you can collaborate from anywhere with virtually any device (desktop and/or app).
Smartsheet has become an indispensable part of how we run our business.
Pros
Smartsheet is an amazing product and helps keep our whole company on schedule and collaborating in real time. It is really flexible and easy to start using.
Once you have used it for a while, you will want to do more and more with it, and there never seems to be a limit to what you can do. They are also constantly adding new helpful features. One that was really useful to me was a kanban view called cardview. But there is also classic spreadsheet view, gannt view, and calendar view.
In addition to sheets, you can also run reports off the sheets which filter the data down for particular users or departments. These reports can be editable or read-only. You can also look at your data in real time using dashboards.
We have been using Smartsheet for several years now, and we still feel like we are only scratching the surface of its capabilities.
Another great feature is that you can have unlimited free collaborators. These people can use the sheets/reports/dashboard and enter data. However, it is only the paid users who can create and maintain the sheets. Over time, you may find more people in your organisation want to be creators, and it is easy to add licenses as needed.
Cons
There's not much I can say negative about this software. On rare occasions there can be unexpected outages or loss of functionality, but that is very rare indeed. There are sometimes maintenance windows on the weekend which can last up to 4 hours at a time, but these are advised well ahead of time. I think the only business that wouldn't want to use smartsheet is one that operates 24/7. If you are a normal Monday to Friday business, smartsheet will be fine for you.
Pros
Not as complicated and cumbersome as MS Project, which tries too hard to apply complicated logic to your project plans. Smartsheet simply gives you the ability to create plans of any level of complexity. Conditional formatting allows easy review of start/finish dates and who is assigned what.
Collaboration is easy and effective as you can share with different levels of permission, and export only those elements you want others to see and work with. Having the product in the cloud makes access simple and reliable. Only once in 3 years have I not been able to access my project plan immediately, and even then it was up within 5 minutes.
Easy to learn and train others on, so you can bring collaborators in quickly. Easy to edit as it uses all the intuitive elements of cut/paste and drag/drop.
Vendor has been helpful when needed, but mostly in the background which is what I want. I just need functioning software and a place to go for help, not endless tips and promotions.
Cons
Creating a backup is a challenge. It's not intuitive and involves way too many menus and steps. There should be a simple way to create a backup offline for audit or versioning purposes.
There needs to be an auto-save feature. I've had new collaborators lose their work because they forgot to manually save. For a product that operates with the ease of Google Docs in the cloud, the expectation is that there is an auto save feature. The 10-minute reminder message is not sufficient.
We used Smartsheet as a simplified task manager to replace another project management system and shared spreadsheet files. It was able to successfully manage the workflow and project load for multiple ecommerce websites and a high volume of online marketing activities, in addition to frequent new product introductions, all with a very small team. The management team really liked the results, but the users did not prefer using the software. Due to the high pricing, only 60% of the team had user accounts and the others had to report updates to be added.
Pros
Since it's based on a spreadsheet / table design, it is quick to learn and easy for team adoption. It's a great alternative for teams that have tried many of the more complex / visual project management platforms without much luck. At the end of the day, I found that project deadlines and tasks were updated and followed much more consistently in Smartsheet than several previous attempts. In addition, Smartsheet has one of the more extensive set of integrations, so virtually any sized enterprise platform or even niche software tool you use probably plays well together with it.
Cons
Though there are a variety of views and automation features embedded in the spreadsheet-like format, it ultimately is a powerful spreadsheet and generally offers somewhat less functionality than many teams expect from a fully featured project management tool, especially when it comes to visual organization. In addition, the software is overpriced in the age of comparable freemium tools (there is no free version outside of the trial). It is very difficult to justify the expense based on the feature set for moderately sized teams when there are many solid alternatives with better or more flexible pricing for smaller teams.
Pros
Smartsheet is fantastic if you are a project manager or anyone that tracks things collaboratively.
I use it daily to keep track of projects. It is like google sheets but has much more functionality with a unique blend of project management flavors. It is easy and intuitive once you get the hang of it, and doubly so if you are accustomed to using google sheets. Even if your teammates don't have licenses, you can invite them to look at and collaborate with your project, add comments, attachments, and even alerts.
As an applicant tracker, I use it to keep track of new hires. We attach their new hire paperwork to the smartsheet (instead of emailing sensitive documents) and other HR members can go in and look and progress, check off when they do their part (benefits orientation, enter into payroll etc) so i can keep track of where the employee is in the process.
Cons
There is a bit of a learning curve. When you first use it, you think that there isn't much difference to google sheets, but once you go through the training, see examples and use it for awhile, it is hard to go back to google sheets because it just doesn't have the functionality you need.
Some of the formula functionality of say, excel is missing, but they are making improvements to the platform all the time.
Smartsheet allowed me to personally increase the project management aspect of my role. It also allowed me to quickly and efficiently manage and update campaigns, content calendars and other key pieces of our marketing organization to keep projects moving forward.
Pros
Smartsheet is my all time favorite marketing software! Not only can you include and integrate project management, sales and other departmental functions but for marketing alone Smartsheet allows you to easily manage campaigns, events, content calendars, website and allows for initiative tracking (i.e. - results). Within each of these functions, you can assign users who are in charge of projects, enhance the internal communications by parties seeing where one is in the process and collaborate amongst many different departments. It truly allows for multiple business functions to be able to come together in one place for a strong marketing, sales and project management platform.
Cons
Smartsheet can operate very slowly when there is a large amount of data in a certain sheet. It decreases the strong user experience and also can make the process more cumbersome at times. The sheets can also be deleted with one click of a button and never be recovered again so you have to be mindful of your actions on the sheet and know all users who are using the platforms have been properly onboarded.
While many businesses continue to move in the direction of a clean and more streamlined user interface, Smartsheet continues to expand the capabilities of its products through its grid interface of a spreadsheet-like appearance. Despite popular belief, this format is still very effective and highly used in places where metrics are essential and number crunching is calling all the shots. With enhanced filters and views, one will be surprised at how powerful Smartsheet really is. I would personally recommend trying this, even for a trial, and get the feel for what Smartsheet can actually do.
Pros
Smartsheet brings the familiarity of using a spreadsheet and transform the way you manage your projects through their grids. Smartsheet is a complete suite of tools that allows your business, big or small, to manage and deliver on your products efficiently. Its list of features is quite extensive:
Dashboards provide full visibility of the project and its status. With key metrics represented for the entire project, you can visually see the progress your teams are making with each project. This allows for quick response and adjustments where needed without having to dive too deep into the details. You can display your projects in one of various ways, each with their own unique set of advantages: from a Gantt chart view, to a cards (Kanban) view, to a calendar view. Provide portals for team collaboration and generate forms to capture the information you seek. Add to that attachment capabilities, notifications, alerts and reminders, plus reporting and so much more... and you have a well rounded complete suite of applications that helps you manage your projects and your business more effectively.
Cons
Smartsheet has no inherent cons. And the only thing I may consider as such would be that of bringing a spreadsheet-like format of its grid into use when trends are deviating from this format slowly. Other than that, Smartsheet does offer what its name implies... "smart" use of its various components to effectively manage a business.
I have used this product for over a year, and I am constantly learning new things and how to improve our processes and projects. I love that Smartsheet is constantly updating and they do have a very useful user community for solving problems via their forums and videos.
Pros
I like that they developed it to resemble traditional spreadsheet programs. This makes introducing the concepts to those with less experience using software. I find that when I show users how similar it is to other products they use, they are more willing to test and try the software. In addition, you aren't just getting a "smart" spreadsheet, the card view and gantt view make explaining timelines and projects much easier. I love seeing the look on new users faces when they realize the potential.
Cons
The automation tools are great, and the workflows you can develop can be very useful. However, there are times when their automation goes down and the company is not quick to respond to users on this. I have had instances where my alerts or notifications never get sent, and I am none the wiser. This has led to some skepticism by users on the viability of the product.
Smartsheet has been a godsend for our team. We were all over the place before we starting using the platform. We have a large portfolio of programs and projects, which Smartsheet keeps us on track with and allows us to collaborate in one place. Reporting has been a breeze and has kept everyone aware of where each project is at any give point in time. The conditional formatting has also been a lifesaver to call out at-risk or upcoming tasks as we need to be aware of them.
Pros
+ I appreciate the way Smartsheet is organized and it is extremely user-friendly. There are a ton of templates and tutorials available but if all else fails, the customer service is on point!
+ The reporting features are amazing and ideal for status reporting
+ There are many apps that can be integrated in to the Smartsheet, so whatever a team uses whether it be Google Drive, Slack, Evernote, Docusign, etc, the work great with the Smartsheet platform
+ Conditional formatting is useful
Cons
- Our portfolio is large and has many moving parts and sometimes our Smartsheet has become excessively large
- Linking sheets into a larger sheet to feed into a dashboard would be amazing if it were only that easy. Linking can be quite a chore. This may be simply due to user error and may be I need to look at a few more tutorials
Smartsheet is very easy to use and has many great features to address many needs. It is widely used in my company.
Pros
Smartsheet has some really great features for project management and peer collaboration. You can easily nest tasks under goals and set a timeline that can be viewed in several different ways. You can add attachments to line items and allow comments from users. IT also has some great automated features such as automatic email updates and reminders, and color coding based on item contents. I have used it to manage large projects. create shared calendars, collect data from internal and external users, and create automated processes. The best feature is that users do not need licenses. You just need one main license to be able to create sheets and then all users can access those sheets without needing to pay for many licenses.
Cons
I feel that Smartsheet could be used as a solution for more items with just a few extra features. It nearly has everything to be used to make approval processes but is lacking responsive emails. It also has a great form feature but it does not allow multi select questions. I have tried to build a ticketing process in this also, but again the email features are limited. It also has the ability to be embedded into web pages but the look is not customizable and does not look good as is.
A wonderful tool that easily replaces Microsoft Project for 90% of companies. Affordable and very collaborative.
Pros
The web based interface looks like excel, and response much better than even Google Docs. The main focus is project management - allowing you to create tasks, timelines, milestones and completion notifications. These are all shareable - invite a user to the sheet and they can enter or edit data - which might just be clicking the COMPLETE box, or it could be entering a large portion of data. Even with multiple users in the sheet at once, the system keeps sync with ease. It is the main tool we use for cross department and external partnerships. It has the main functionality that you want out of Microsoft Project, but is cloud based and anyone familiar with excel will be able to use it.
Cons
The sheets have similar functions to excel, but the means of editing those formulas are not good. Thus will not replaced excel, but it does replace Project for a fraction of the cost and a drop of the training required to use it. The alerts can be annoying at time, sending you multiple alerts if you don't set them up just right. The limitation on the number of rows will eventually force you to create duplicate archive sheets if you use them as a tracking/complaint type log.
Pros
Where do I start? I used to rely on MS Project to manage my projects, but I hated it. MS Project is designed as a one-size-fits all program for all projects. The only problem is it is a poor design to solve that problem. MS Project is way too complex and difficult to use. It is feature rich, sure, but you need to read a manual to learn how to leverage all of the features. Smartsheet solves all those problems, for me anyway. It is simple to use. If you know how to use Excel, you can learn Smartsheet's and become fluent in navigating its interface and product in 1 week of regular use. I rely on Smartsheet everyday to help me manage complex projects, budgets, and timelines. I do not know what I would do without having access to the tool anymore. It is my #1 needed tool on the job period.
Cons
The only thing I dislike about the tool is that it is associated with hard work! That being said it solves many of my challenges, and is a fantastic product that enables me to manage complex projects with ease. There is nothing that I truly dislike about SS.
It's such an effective tool for project management and communication for our team. I don't know what we would do without it!
Pros
I love the design of the application. It's familiar to Excel users because it's comprised of customizable spreadsheets. My favorite function is the ability to assign/update tasks to users and it can be set to send them email notifications immediately about the change.
Cons
Smartsheet is lacking in specific preferences. For example, you can set the daily notifications but you cannot select the time of day. This can be a little frustrating to some of us who receive the emails at 2am and overlook the notification within our inboxes.
Pros
As an analyst, I contrinute to many different projects on a daily basis and establishing a Smartsheet file to track our progress is a huge benefit. We are able to schedule half as many meetings for updates because the group's status (or lack of) is always available for review. Also, we use the upload function to store many documents in the workbook. Hugely valuable.
Cons
It functions perfectly but the program itself resembles Excel (which we also work with). Perhaps a more elegant and weelcoming display?
Smartsheet has empowered our virtual teams to SEE each other and our work. We respond at the speed of business with ALERTS and workflows. We don't need to recreate plans (the wheel) because once we make a great plan, we can duplicate it and share it with ease. I'm SO in love with this product!
Pros
Smartsheet is everything. Knowing the features and functionality help me dream up new and exciting ways to gain all sorts of productivity gains at work. The collaboration features are out of this world. My work is so fast paced, I cannot afford to revert to manual ways of doing work. The interface is super intuitive, the training resources and 2nd to none (serious, most companies like this sell you training...Smartsheet WANTS to set you up for success). My Customer Success Manager has always been in the thick of it with us! She is committed to making sure we ALL win!
Cons
Smartsheet is configured at the enterprise IT Level for our company. I have often wished that some of its AMAZING out-of-the-box features were available to our team. This is not a fault of Smartsheet though...just my personal wish :)
I have been using Smartsheet for over three years and absolutely love it.
As a project manager, it is difficult to run a project through Microsoft Project and still have the entire team able to see and/or update the plan. Smartsheet allows full control over who can see, who can edit and who can share the project plan. It allows team members to make status updates and pull reports.
It is MSProject functionality with MSExcel ease of use. And being cloud based, it is device independent and your team members do not have to own a copy of the software to see the plans.
In the past, I would need to create my project plan in MS Project, but export to Excel or PDF in order to share with team members who did not have an MS Project license. That was very time consuming and usually required some re-formatting.
Smartsheet solves those problems and allows more efficient collaboration. I pay for it out of my pocket I like it so much
Pros
Device independence and cloud storage allow for full-team collaboration without purchasing extra copies of an application.
Cons
I would like it even better if a file were able to have several sheets, like in Excel
My company uses Smartsheet for project tracking of multi-year projects across several continents, time zones, and team functionalities. I've been using the product for about nine months, and even while I feel like I understand it well and am reaching the productivity I seek, I still keep learning more features that it has to offer. So far it has been really great for us, as it allows so many options for you, but does not require that you have to wade through them all just to get a simple task done. So many platforms offer crazy amounts of features and KPIs, of which 80% go unused, but in order to do what you want you have to go through menu after menu after menu (cough SAP cough).
The simple Excel-style interface is what really makes the difference for our teams. They see something that looks familiar, and they feel more comfortable with it. It's easy for them to enter data (just like Excel), and the learning curve is gentle. Most of my teams got up and running in about a week, and that's really something!
It's quickly becoming the go-to tool for so many of the old things we used to manage through Excel and Outlook. The best part is that the features are not "in the way" of your working. If you need task management, project management, log books, alerts, etc. this tool can do it. And, because it's so easy to share and publish, teams can work with others quickly, easily, and with a nice record of who did what. That's one of my favorite features about it. Each cell has a history that you can view, so you can see all the changes, who made them, and at what time. It's a really powerful feature.
And, to cap it off, the support team is really great. They're putting out developments all the time, and actively seek feedback from their community for said developments.
I would recommend to anyone who wants to have an all in one work collaboration platform that's easy for their team to use, unless you want each team member to spend 9 months studying the platform before they can do even the most basic functions.
Almost forgot the price. This software costs a fraction of what other software costs. We have close to 260 people using the platform, editing and viewing the sheets. Yet, we pay less for the YEARLY Smartsheet Team Plan than we pay to another software company so that one single user can have access for 6 months, and many of the features between the two are duplicated.
If you want to create a project management plan like a rockstar and feel confident that your data is going to look as good as the work that you put into it you have to use smartsheet and you can't afford not to give it a shot because a 30 day free trial with no credit card is almost unheard of today with the slap your credit card down before we give it a shot and you get a full robust set of features for your free trial I couldn't recommend it anymore it's an absolute winner.
Pros
I'm not an expert by any stretch on Gantt charts and project management but I was forced into a position to do a large project management plan that required spreadsheets Gantt charts and all the necessary tools of a robust project management proposal. I love the ease of use and the visual user interface of smartsheet. I initially tried to use Excel only to be frustrated with formatting cells and a big messy fragman fragmented plan. Smartsheet was relatively quick to learn easy to go back and edit and save and also easy to create a copy of a master plan that you may have created to reuse again. I would have never gotten through my project management crisis without smartsheet I can't say enough of how invaluable it is. It will make a project management newbie like myself look like a total Pro and the more you use it the more fun it actually becomes as you start to see your data be brought to life in a way that is easy to see easy to edit and easy to print. If you are a project management professional you cannot afford not to use Smart cheap it's that good.
Cons
Well there's a very generous 30-day trial and I love the fact that there's no credit card required it would be great if there was some use plans were a little less expensive for Less usage.
I just like the software for all the good that it has done to help more things more fluidly around in the company. Yes, you can most likely find other software that can do the same but come on this is actually the easier of all and the price point also helps too.
Pros
What I like about Smartsheet is the fact that you are not bombarded with so many complex and complicated ways to get things done. This software takes that all away and thus lets you start actually getting your ideas down quickly without the need of wasting time learning something difficult. This allows you to collaborate with other users quickly and easily. If you have a large file and don't want to show off everything that you have you can quickly export those elements and with different types of level permission. Since this software is not entirely saved on your computer you can move around with ease since this is Cloud based.
Cons
I do like Smartsheet, but there can be improvements made to this to make if better and faster. Like creating a backup can be made easier and thus it is not. It can be daunting at times trying to get this backed up. This is Cloud based and it should already have an auto backup feature or at least and easier way. The same goes for saving too. Auto-save should be an easy fix, right? Well I hope that this will be taken care of.
I am using Smartsheet as a project management tool to manage specific projects and to manage project portfolios. The workspace feature allows my supervisors to review my work easily and allows me to share documents with others. So far, Smartsheet is my project management tool of choice and I encourage others to use it.
Pros
Smartsheet is VERY easy to use and intuitive. The layout is clear and simple. The Help section is thorough and there is a huge global community of Smartsheet users, so it's easy to find answers to questions and to get help. It integrates with Microsoft Teams and is easy for new users to learn and to navigate. I most frequently use the project sheet template and the kanban board template and that has helped me to organize my work and be able to report on progress very easily.
Cons
One con is that it's not immediately visible to see the project milestones on the Gantt chart, and it's not always clear to me how Smartsheet determines the critical path on a project.
Good stuff, if not better than I think it is. I like that I can give anything to anyone and control how much input they can have with it.
Pros
I do enjoy that I can share files out with anyone. I like that they can edit and I can see them immediately. The workspace is clean and it is far more powerful than I need it for. I'm sure I could get tricky with it and make it do flips and jumps, but I have heretofore not needed to make it do that.
Cons
I'll be honest in that this is nitpicking. The scroll-wheel on my mouse doesn't like the scroll down a smartsheet. It is by far and away the worst thing about this program I've found. It's so infuriating when I have a few hundred rows and I can't accurately scroll to a needed place. The side bar works well, but everything in the world allows a scroll now.
Please laugh at this and then do it... you'll understand what I'm saying.
Aside from that, this is less of a Con than maybe a pro but I feel like there's a bit of overkill under the hood here. I could easily be wrong in my limited scope so I hate to even list this as a Con, except that you're paying for it. I feel like if you use the full breadth, you win but it's just not super-needed or warranted if you're expecting a bunch of collaboration with people who don't want to be bothered.
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.