Why you shouldn't just share the whole sheet
Sharing the underlying sheet feels like the quick option, but it creates three problems:
- Everyone sees everything. One vendor can see every other vendor's rows, rates, and comments.
- Accidental edits. An outside user can overwrite formulas, statuses, or fields meant to stay fixed.
- License and access overhead. Managing dozens or hundreds of external collaborators directly on a sheet gets messy fast.
You want outsiders to contribute to your data without touching the source of truth. That's a permissions problem, and Smartsheet has a purpose-built answer for it.
The approach: Forms + Dynamic View
- Form — collects new submissions and drops them straight into your master sheet as new rows. The submitter never sees the sheet.
- Dynamic View — gives each user a personalized window into the sheet: filtered to only their rows, showing only the fields you choose, with selected fields set to read-only. They interact through the view, not the sheet.
Together, the master sheet stays your single source of truth, while each outside user gets a clean, safe slice.
How to set it up, step by step
- Build the master intake sheet. This is your single source of truth. Include a column that identifies who each row belongs to (e.g., Vendor Name or Assigned Contact) — you'll filter on this. Add any columns your vendors will need to fill in, plus any internal-only columns you want to keep hidden.
- Create a Form connected to your master sheet. In Smartsheet, open your sheet and go to Forms → Create Form. Add only the fields you want vendors to submit. Exclude any internal columns. Set required fields and any dropdowns needed. Copy the shareable form link — this is what you'll send to vendors for new submissions.
- Set up Dynamic View. From the Smartsheet navigation, open Dynamic View (available on Business/Enterprise plans). Click Create View, select your master sheet, and name the view.
- Configure the filter. Under "Filter Data," choose to filter rows based on the contact column (e.g., Assigned Contact = Current User). This ensures each person sees only rows assigned to them when they log in.
- Select visible columns. Only include columns the vendor needs to see or update. Leave out pricing columns, internal notes, or any fields they shouldn't know about.
- Set field-level permissions. For each visible column, choose whether it's editable or read-only. Set status fields, formula columns, or system-generated values to read-only. Leave the fields vendors are responsible for updating as editable.
- Share the Dynamic View. Under Sharing in Dynamic View, add your vendors by email. They'll receive an invite and can access the view without ever being added to the sheet itself. They log in, see only their rows, and update only the fields you've allowed.
Tip: If your vendors don't have a Smartsheet account, they'll be prompted to create a free viewer account when they accept the Dynamic View invite. This does not consume a paid license on your plan.
What this setup actually solves
With this in place, your master sheet stays clean and controlled. New vendor submissions come in through the Form as new rows. Existing rows are updated by vendors through their Dynamic View. No one vendor can see another's data. Your internal columns remain invisible. Formulas and locked fields stay safe.
This is the same architecture we've built for Fortune 500 clients managing dozens of subcontractor data streams simultaneously — 8 API integrations, all feeding a single source of truth, with zero sheet-level access granted to any outside party.
Heads up: Dynamic View requires a Smartsheet Business or Enterprise plan. If you're on Pro, the same goal can be partially achieved using Forms only (for new submissions) combined with Reports shared as viewer-only links, though row-level filtering per user is limited without Dynamic View.
Common mistakes to avoid
- Forgetting to filter by current user. Without the "Current User" filter, all vendors will see all rows in the view.
- Leaving formula columns editable. Vendors can overwrite formula-driven values if you don't explicitly set those columns to read-only.
- Not testing as a vendor. Before sending the link, open an incognito window, log in as a test vendor account, and confirm they see exactly what you intended — nothing more.