Overview of the user model

How the user model works

The user model provides customers a framework to allow immediate user access with billing management and oversight. Instead of waiting for a System Admin, a user can start collaborating immediately when someone on the plan shares them to an item. If you're a System Admin, understanding this process is important, since you're responsible for managing user access and reviewing usage under this system.

Still on the legacy model? See Migration from the legacy model.

Seat types

Whether a user is internal or external depends on their email domain. Internal users have email addresses that match your organization's domain(s). External users have email addresses that don't match your organization's domain(s). For a full breakdown of what each seat type can do, see Seat types.

• Members: Paid users with full access to create, edit, and manage items
• Provisional Members: Users who gain full functionality right away at no cost for at least 30 days (unless a System Admin changes their seat type)
• Contributors: Free users who can view shared work. With Commenter permissions, Contributors can also comment and add or delete attachments
• Guests: Free external users available on Business and Enterprise plans who can view or edit shared items

Guests automatically revert to a Contributor seat type within 90 days if they don’t have Editor permissions or above for any shared core Smartsheet item. This ensures that each user’s assigned seat type aligns with their current sharing permissions.

Provisional membership 

Provisional Members

• Can have the same capabilities as Members during their provisional membership period
• Receive at least 30 days of unpaid use (unless a System Admin changes their seat type)
• Convert to a free seat type automatically if the following happens:
  •  The plan's approval setting is set to downgrade them
  • A System Admin doesn't upgrade them to a paid Member by the end of the nex review period

Check out Admin Center: Provisional Member Settings for more details.

How does provisional membership work?

A user usually becomes a Provisional Member after the following two things happen: 

1. A user gains access to the plan when another user shares a core item with them, such as a sheet or dashboard.
2. The user takes an action that their sharing permission level allows but that their current seat type doesn’t. For example:
   • An internal user with a Contributor seat type is shared to an item as Editor—editing content on the item triggers provisional membership because editing goes beyond what the Contributor seat type allows.
   • An external user with a Guest seat type is shared to an item as Admin —creating a new item triggers provisional membership because the Admin permission grants creation ability that the Guest seat type doesn't include.

The key factor is the combination of the sharing permission level granted and the action taken. When a user's sharing permission allows them to perform an action that exceeds their current seat type's permissions, and they act on that permission, they become a Provisional Member.

Helpful info

• Provisional membership begins when internal users perform activities (such as editing or creating new items) on core items (like a sheet, report, or dashboard).
• Review periods occur quarterly for annual plans and monthly for monthly plans, right before the auto-bill or invoice date. During these periods, System Admins should review activity and confirm whether users should become Members or get downgraded. Check out the Manage users help article for details.
• If most Provisional Members in your plan actively collaborate, you can change the settings to upgrade Provisional Members to paid Members at the end of the review period. If no Member seats are available, the cost of additional Member seats is part of your auto-bill or invoice. See the Admin Center: Provisional Member Settings help article for details.

What happens to Provisional Members at the end of the review period depends on the Provisional Member setting in Admin Center. If the setting is configured to upgrade, Provisional Members who haven't been manually downgraded automatically convert to paid Member seats. If no Member seats are available, additional seats are added to your next bill. Review your Provisional Member Settings to understand how your plan is configured.

A user can be a Provisional Member only once. Once a user is downgraded, they're no longer eligible for provisional membership. If they need access after being downgraded, a System Admin must upgrade them to a Member.

What System Admins should do

Best practices

Recommended practices include, but aren't limited to:

• Set permissions carefully: Encourage users to share items with the lowest level of access needed.
• Monitor activity: Use Admin Center reports to see what actions specific users have performed; review seat requests during and just after each review period.
• Check Provisional Member Settings: Understand what happens to Provisional Members at the end of each billing cycle, and change the settings if needed. See the Admin Center: Provisional Member Settings help article for details.
• Review consistently: Adjust users’ seat types during the review period to ensure seats reflect actual activity.
• Communicate policies: Help internal users understand how their activity may determine seat type.
• Maintain redundancy: Assign Admin permissions to at least two users on important items to avoid ownership gaps. If items in your plan already have no active Admin or Owner, use the abandoned items report in Admin Center to find and reassign them.

System Admins on Business and Enterprise plans can also align Smartsheet access with internal policies. To learn more, check out the Developer guide and the Manage seat types using ITSM workflows help article.

Examples

Internal users

An internal user’s seat type changes to Provisional Member when the user goes beyond viewing on a core item, such as a sheet, report, or dashboard. Examples include but aren't limited to:

• Adding or editing items
• Changing settings, such as columns, filters, or permissions
• Creating or renaming a sheet

These examples illustrate the types of activities that trigger provisional membership. They’re not a complete list.

External users

An external user's (Guest's) seat type changes to Provisional Member when the user takes a creation action on a core item that their sharing permission level allows. Examples include but aren't limited to:

• Creating a new sheet, report, or dashboard (when shared as Admin)
• Creating new items within a workspace they have Admin access to

Guests can't trigger provisional membership by editing or commenting alone. Only actions that involve creating new items apply.