Share a collection

Share collections in workspaces

You must be the Admin of the workspace the collection lives in to share that collection.

To share a collection, you need to:

1. Go to Home > All workspaces… and select a workspace to open the workspace panel.
2. Select the collection you want to share from the workspace panel.
3. Select the three-dot menu.
4. Select Share collection.

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5. In the share dialog, add the users or groups you’re sharing the collection with.
6. Select Share.

Alternatively, you can use the Share button in the upper-right corner of an open item to share the collection or just that item.

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In the Customize message drop-down, you can personalize the subject and body text of the notification email you’re sending to the people shared to the collection.

Things to consider:

• Sharing a collection with someone grants them access to the collection and all of its items. You can determine each item’s access level individually.
• Any Smartsheet user can gain access to a collection regardless of their plan.
• When you copy a workspace using the Save as New… option from Browse, the modal specifies that copying Sharing Options only applies to the workspace, but not to the unique permissions of its internal collections. Anyone with access to the new workspace can access its collections.

Manage access to collections in workspaces

Every person you share to a collection gains access to all of its current and future items.

Content within collections

You can add items with Viewer permissions as the default and then define permissions for each item. Decide which access level you want to grant to those shared to the collection.

1. Commenter
2. Editor
3. Viewer

To edit or update the permissions for the items in the collection, you should: 

1. Open the workspace panel
2. Open the collection containing the items you want to update.
3. Select the three-dot menu next to each item.
4. Select Change permissions.
5. Select the permission level you’d like to assign.

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Alternatively, you can also select the permissions directly from the icons next to each item.

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Permissions for external links, forms, and Dynamic Views are managed outside of collections. All external content has only Viewer permissions.

Request access to a collection

If you try opening a collection but can't do so, you might need to request access to it.

Common reasons for not having access include:

• You received a share link, but your email address isn't shared to the collection.
• You're logged into Smartsheet with an email address different from the one the share link was sent to.
• The collection Admin has removed your access to the item.
• The Admin has deleted the collection.

If you'd like to access a collection that isn't shared to your email address, open the URL to see the Request access button. Additionally, use the text box to provide context.

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Requesting access prompts an email to the collection Admin with a link they can use to select a sharing permission level. Once the collection Admin has completed this process, you can access the collection.

When an Admin approves the request, you get a notification. However, if they deny your request, you don’t get a notification.

How access to collections works

• When you share a collection with someone, you grant them access to the items within the collection, no matter what those items are.
• People shared to the collection can access the underlying items with a direct link or through the collection.
• When you share a collection with someone, they can access items within that collection with the highest permission level they have. That means you can share someone with Viewer permissions to the collection, but if they already had Editor permissions in the item directly, they continue to access that item as Editor.
• When you copy a workspace that includes collections, anyone with access to the new workspace can access its collections. You can assign additional permissions to specific collections.