With user merge, you can update email addresses in bulk or merge two user profiles into one. Merging user profiles automatically transfers all sheets, reports, dashboards, workspaces, and sharing information from two profiles into a single one.
USM Content
Use user merge to:
- Merge two user profiles in your plan belonging to the same person. One of these profiles may have been created due to an email or domain change.
- You can update a user's primary email address in your plan if it isn't already associated with.
If an entered email address already exists as its own Smartsheet user profile, that user profile must be added to your plan in order to be in-scope for user merge capabilities.
- Update the user email domains in your plan. The domain update could result from a merger, acquisition, divestiture, branding, or consolidation exercise.
Before you begin
Validate all domains
User merge requires domain validation for all the email domains associated with the email addresses you want to merge.
Learn how to validate a domain.
The System Admin running the user merge can't be one of the accounts being merged. Another System Admin must perform a user merge of a System Admin's account.
The user profile may already exist or be part of another plan. To merge this user, invite them to your plan and have them accept the invitation to appear as an active member. If you receive an error that the user is already part of another plan, work with the other plan’s SysAdmin to remove the user before adding them to your plan.
Remove Premium App roles
If either of the profiles you want to merge has Premium App roles enabled, remove these user entitlements before you merge them. You can re-assign Premium App roles after you've merged the profiles.
Remove users from groups in another plan
If either of the profiles is a group member outside the current plan, you must request to remove them from those groups before merging them. Contact support to complete this action.
Additionally, you can request to re-add those profiles after you've merged the profiles.
Download and configure the user merge template
- Sign in to Admin Center using your current Smartsheet account credentials.
- Select the Menu icon in the upper left corner and navigate to Users and Groups > User Roles and Reports.
Select More Actions > Merge Users.
Brandfolder Image
Select Download to download the template file you want to use for the user merge.
Brandfolder Image
- In the downloaded template, enter the following:
- In the Current Login Email Address, enter the email addresses of the corresponding profiles to merge and close.
- In the Replacement Login Email Address column, enter the primary email addresses of the profiles you want to keep.
- Save the completed file and keep it in CSV format.
Make sure the email addresses in each pair belong to the same person.
After the merge, the primary email address of the kept profile becomes the value in the Replacement Login Email Address column. The value in the Current Login Email Address column remains as an alternate email address on the profile.
You can update up to 500 pairs of email addresses in one file. You must upload additional merge files if you have to update more than 500 pairs of email addresses.
Preview and apply the merge
- Sign in to Admin Center using your current Smartsheet account credentials.
- Select the Menu icon in the upper left corner and navigate to Users and Groups > User Roles and Reports.
- Select More Actions > Merge Users...
- Upload the updated file, and select Preview Merge.
The Preview Merge option validates the email addresses for issues such as invalid email addresses, duplicate entries, unvalidated domains, and more. Entries that don’t appear as Ready for Merge aren’t applied, and the Recommendation column shows an actionable fix.
- When you're ready, select Apply Merge. The confirmation message indicates the user merge process is in progress.
- When the user merge process is complete, the affected users receive a confirmation email to notify them of the changes. You also get an email with a link to the user merge results report, which includes:
- Current Login Email Address: Merged email address.
- Replacement Login Email Address: Retained email address.
- Result: Shows if the merge was successful for a given user.
- Metrics to display: A count of roles, items owned, items shared, and group memberships for the retained profile.
Items included in a user merge
Smartsheet follows this logic:
- If a user has both Member and Viewer profiles, Smartsheet closes the Viewer profile.
- Smartsheet transfers all items from the Viewer account to the Member profile.
- If a user has two Member profiles, Smartsheet keeps the older profile and closes the new one.
Upon completion, Smartsheet transfers the following items from the closed profile into the retained profile:
- All sheets, reports, workspaces, and dashboards that the user has access to
- Groups owned by the user
- Group membership
- Roles
- Alternate email addresses
- Profile information
In the user merge process, the system moves workspace items to the Transferred From folder.
Things to know
Smartsheet prompts a non-Smartsheet user to create an account if they received:
- An invitation to edit or view a Smartsheet item
- An alert from an automation workflow or other triggers
To prevent losing Connector workflows and API tokens when you merge accounts, make sure:
- The profile you want to keep is a Member
- The profile you want to close is a Viewer
Items not included in a user merge
- Automation workflows
- Contacts
- Connectors
- Favorites
- API tokens *
* API tokens are used for integrations and Premium Applications such as Control Center and Calendar App. Users may need to re-authenticate these apps to use them.
Undo a user merge
To undo the user merge, highlight the rows in the user merge file that you want to undo and contact Smartsheet Support. Be sure to attach the user merge file to the support request.
Smartsheet Support contacts you to confirm the request before making the changes. You can only roll back the user merge if you completed it within the last seven days.
A rollback can only partially return a user profile to its original pre-merged state. You can only restore merged items. Users may need to re-authenticate to Premium Applications, fix Automated Workflows, or take other action.
User merge limitations - Directory Integration/SCIM
The user merge tool might not work in the following scenarios:
- If both the Current Login Email Address and the Replacement Login Email Address are users managed by external directory. In this case, the merge fails with the error: You cannot merge email addresses belonging to users in your directory service.
- If the Current Login Email Address is a directory managed user and the Replacement Login Email Address is a Smartsheet user (you don’t manage the user profile via DI/SCIM). In this case, the merge fails with the error: To merge email addresses of a user in your directory service with their existing Smartsheet user account, set the Current Login Email Address to the current primary Smartsheet email address and Replacement Login Email Address to their directory service email address.
If the Current Login Email Address is a Smartsheet user (you don’t manage the user profile via DI/SCIM) and the Replacement Login Email Address is a directory user, the merge can proceed.
LCM Content
Use user merge to:
- Merge two user profiles in your plan belonging to the same person. One of these profiles may have been created due to an email or domain change.
- You can update a user's primary email address in your plan if it isn't already associated with.
If an entered email address already exists as its own Smartsheet user profile, that user profile must be added to your plan in order to be in-scope for user merge capabilities.
- Update the user email domains in your plan. The domain update could result from a merger, acquisition, divestiture, branding, or consolidation exercise.
Before you begin
Validate all domains
User merge requires domain validation for all the email domains associated with the email addresses you want to merge.
Learn how to validate a domain.
The System Admin running the user merge can't be one of the accounts being merged. Another System Admin must perform a user merge of a System Admin's account.
The user profile may already exist or be part of another plan. To merge this user, invite them to your plan and have them accept the invitation to appear as an active member. If you receive an error that the user is already part of another plan, work with the other plan’s SysAdmin to remove the user before adding them to your plan.
Remove Premium App roles
If either of the profiles you want to merge has Premium App roles enabled, remove these user entitlements before you merge them. You can re-assign Premium App roles after you've merged the profiles.
Remove users from groups in another plan
If either of the profiles is a group member outside the current plan, you must request to remove them from those groups before merging them. Contact support to complete this action.
Additionally, you can request to re-add those profiles after you've merged the profiles.
Download and configure the user merge template
- Sign in to Admin Center using your current Smartsheet account credentials.
- Select the Menu icon in the upper left corner and navigate to Users and Groups > User Roles and Reports.
Select More Actions > Merge Users.
Brandfolder Image
Select Download to download the template file you want to use for the user merge.
Brandfolder Image
- In the downloaded template, enter the following:
- In the Current Login Email Address, enter the email addresses of the corresponding profiles to merge and close.
- In the Replacement Login Email Address column, enter the primary email addresses of the profiles you want to keep.
- Save the completed file and keep it in CSV format.
Make sure the email addresses in each pair belong to the same person.
After the merge, the primary email address of the kept profile becomes the value in the Replacement Login Email Address column. The value in the Current Login Email Address column remains as an alternate email address on the profile.
You can update up to 500 pairs of email addresses in one file. You must upload additional merge files if you have to update more than 500 pairs of email addresses.
Preview and apply the merge
- Sign in to Admin Center using your current Smartsheet account credentials.
- Select the Menu icon in the upper left corner and navigate to Users and Groups > User Roles and Reports.
- Select More Actions > Merge Users...
- Upload the updated file, and select Preview Merge.
The Preview Merge option validates the email addresses for issues such as invalid email addresses, duplicate entries, unvalidated domains, and more. Entries that don’t appear as Ready for Merge aren’t applied, and the Recommendation column shows an actionable fix.
- When you're ready, select Apply Merge. The confirmation message indicates the user merge process is in progress.
- When the user merge process is complete, the affected users receive a confirmation email to notify them of the changes. You also get an email with a link to the user merge results report, which includes:
- Current Login Email Address: Merged email address.
- Replacement Login Email Address: Retained email address.
- Result: Shows if the merge was successful for a given user.
- Metrics to display: A count of roles, items owned, items shared, and group memberships for the retained profile.
Items included in a user merge
Smartsheet follows this logic:
- If a user has both Member and Viewer profiles, Smartsheet closes the Viewer profile.
- Smartsheet transfers all items from the Viewer account to the Member profile.
- If a user has two Member profiles, Smartsheet keeps the older profile and closes the new one.
Upon completion, Smartsheet transfers the following items from the closed profile into the retained profile:
- All sheets, reports, workspaces, and dashboards that the user has access to
- Groups owned by the user
- Group membership
- Roles
- Alternate email addresses
- Profile information
In the user merge process, the system moves workspace items to the Transferred From folder.
Things to know
Smartsheet prompts a non-Smartsheet user to create an account if they received:
- An invitation to edit or view a Smartsheet item
- An alert from an automation workflow or other triggers
To prevent losing Connector workflows and API tokens when you merge accounts, make sure:
- The profile you want to keep is a Member
- The profile you want to close is a Viewer
Items not included in a user merge
- Automation workflows
- Contacts
- Connectors
- Favorites
- API tokens *
* API tokens are used for integrations and Premium Applications such as Control Center and Calendar App. Users may need to re-authenticate these apps to use them.
Undo a user merge
To undo the user merge, highlight the rows in the user merge file that you want to undo and contact Smartsheet Support. Be sure to attach the user merge file to the support request.
Smartsheet Support contacts you to confirm the request before making the changes. You can only roll back the user merge if you completed it within the last seven days.
A rollback can only partially return a user profile to its original pre-merged state. You can only restore merged items. Users may need to re-authenticate to Premium Applications, fix Automated Workflows, or take other action.
User merge limitations - Directory Integration/SCIM
The user merge tool might not work in the following scenarios:
- If both the Current Login Email Address and the Replacement Login Email Address are users managed by external directory. In this case, the merge fails with the error: You cannot merge email addresses belonging to users in your directory service.
- If the Current Login Email Address is a directory managed user and the Replacement Login Email Address is a Smartsheet user (you don’t manage the user profile via DI/SCIM). In this case, the merge fails with the error: To merge email addresses of a user in your directory service with their existing Smartsheet user account, set the Current Login Email Address to the current primary Smartsheet email address and Replacement Login Email Address to their directory service email address.
If the Current Login Email Address is a Smartsheet user (you don’t manage the user profile via DI/SCIM) and the Replacement Login Email Address is a directory user, the merge can proceed.