Create and populate a DataTable

DataTable is a way Smartsheet can store millions of rows of data and sync subsets of that data into sheets. Once your DataTable is created and populated with data, you can connect the DataTable to a sheet (or multiple sheets) and allow cross-team collaborations using a single data source.

Prerequisites

To use DataTable, you must:

• Be a Licensed User
• Have Owner or Admin permissions on any DataTable connected sheets
• Have DataTable permissions enabled in User Management by a Smartsheet System Admin

You can add, edit, or remove fields after you've created the DataTable. DataTable supports text, number, date, and checkbox fields. The field type is important for searching and filtering – for example, if you want to search or filter based on dates, your field will need to be the associated date type.

Create a DataTable

There are two ways to create a DataTable: Create an empty data table and populate the data later, or use a Data Shuttle workflow. 

Option 1: Create an empty DataTable

Using this method, you will create an empty DataTable and then use a Data Shuttle workflow to populate the data. Creating the DataTable first gives you more data formatting options at setup. 

1. On the left navigation bar, select Browse > DataTables.
2. On the top right corner of the DataTables screen, select Create, then select From scratch
3. Follow the instructions on your screen.

You can edit the DataTable schema on the Setting page at any time. Be aware changes can impact your sheet connections and Data Shuttle workflows.

Option 2: Create a new DataTable and Data Shuttle workflow

The import wizard auto-detects the source file column heading and maps the headers to your DataTable schema.

This method does not support advanced date format options. The Data Shuttle workflow option will only detect the standard ISO format YYYY-MM-DD HH:MM:SSZ. If your source file contains a different format, use option one, above. 

1. On the left navigation bar, select Browse > DataTables.
2. On the top right corner of the DataTables screen, select Create, then select From OneDrive, Google Drive, Box, or Smartsheet attachment. 
3. Follow the instructions on your screen. 

Import data into a DataTable

Once you have a created DataTable, you can create DataShuttle workflows to populate the DataTable with additional data.

You can create multiple workflows for a single DataTable, but use the same unique identifier to prevent the addition of duplicates and empty fields on subsequent workflow runs.

Learn more about DataShuttle. 

1. Log into datashuttle.smartsheet.com
2. Select the plus icon in the left navigation bar.
3. Select Upload Data and follow the instructions on your screen. For Target (step two), select DataTable and proceed with the setup.