Find answers to the most common questions about enhanced global updates.
Frequently asked questions
What changes can I publish to my active projects?
The following tables show you which changes are available for you to complete using enhanced global updates.
Smartsheet items
| Smartsheet items |
|---|
| Add sheets, reports, and dashboards |
| Create new folders and move items in and out of folders |
Removing sheets, reports, or dashboards from the template deletes the sheet, report, or dashboard from all active projects when you publish the change.
Columns
| Columns |
|---|
| Add new columns |
| Lock/unlock columns |
| Update column type, column cell alignment, column cell formatting (like font, bold, italic, strikethrough, font color) |
| Update column description |
Formulas
| Formulas |
|---|
| Add/remove column formulas |
| Update column formulas |
| Create cross-sheet references |
Dropdown-style columns
| Dropdown columns |
|---|
| Add/remove dropdown option |
| Update dropdown option color |
Contact list columns
| Contact columns |
|---|
| Update contact list values |
Sheet summary
| Sheet summary |
|---|
| Add/remove new sheet summary field |
| Update sheet summary field properties |
| Update sheet summary field data |
Filters
| Filters |
|---|
| Create/delete filters |
| Update filters |
Conditional formatting
| Conditional formatting |
|---|
| Create/delete formatting rule |
| Update formatting rule |
Project settings
| Project settings |
|---|
| Update project dependency settings |
Automations
| Automations |
|---|
| Add/remove automation |
| Update automation |
Cell links
| Cell links |
|---|
| Add new cell link |
Forms
| Forms |
|---|
| Add/remove forms |
| Update forms |
Data Links
| Data Links |
|---|
| Create Data Link |
| Update Data Link settings |
What happens if I provision a new project when my template has unpublished changes?
- New projects are based on the templates in your blueprint. This means that changes such as adding new columns or forms to a sheet that’s already included in the blueprint appear in new projects before you’ve published the changes.
- If you remove items from the template, or add sheets, reports, or dashboards to the template but you don’t publish them, those don’t appear in new projects.
- Go to the template to add or remove items.
New projects use the template sheets, reports, or dashboards marked as Included in the Template settings page in the Control Center blueprint.
Publishing new items in your template automatically includes them here.
All included items are automatically set to Required. It'snot possible to have optional templates in a blueprint with enhanced global updates enabled.
Who can publish changes?
Only Control Center Program Leads with Admin access to the blueprint source template workspace can publish changes.
Users who only have access to edit the template sheets, reports, or dashboards that are part of the blueprint can make changes that apply to future projects, but if they add any items to the template, a Program Lead must publish the template for the new items to be included in the blueprint and all new/active projects.
Preview changes with the Preview button. Changes you make in the preview workspace don't appear in your real project or template.
Can I skip updates for a specific project?
No. All active projects sync to match the template whenever you select Publish.
Avoid using enhanced global updateds at this time if you don’t want to change all active projects.
Can I add collections to blueprints with enhanced global updates enabled?
Yes, you can add collections to the blueprint source template workspace in any of your blueprints where you’ve already enabled enhanced global updates.
Any projects provisioned from that blueprint in the future include the collections from your blueprint, relinked as appropriate to the items in your project.
If you provision any collections from your blueprint, you must manually share them to the project users you want.
Learn more about sharing collections.
It’s not possible to set up sharing rules for collections in the Control Center blueprint or to use enhanced global updates to add, update, or delete collections for existing projects.
Can I update projects with dashboards with embedded forms?
When you provision a project from a Control Center blueprint containing a dashboard with shortcut or web content widgets that include a form URL, two things can happen:
- If the form is associated with a sheet that is a part of the template, the resulting copy of the dashboard includes the URL of the new copy of the form, not the original URL.
- If the link is for a form on a sheet that isn’t part of the copied folder, then the resulting project has the same form URL as the blueprint.
If you add dashboards or modify the widgets of existing ones via a Control Center enhanced global update, those dashboards don't automatically relink embedded forms.