Create a Salesforce workflow

The Smartsheet Salesforce Connector is available as a premium offering. For pricing information, contact our sales team. If you have the Smartsheet Salesforce Connector purchased on your plan, use the button below to sign in and start creating workflows between Smartsheet and Salesforce. 

Sign in to the Smartsheet Salesforce Connector

Get started

Before you create your first workflow between a sheet in Smartsheet and Salesforce, both applications must establish a connection. Ensure that an administrator on your plan has performed the initial connection setup.

Prerequisites

To create workflows in the Smartsheet Salesforce Connector: 

• You must be a Smartsheet paid user.
• You must hold Editor permissions or higher on any mapped sheet. You should also have access to the records you'd like to build a workflow for.
• You must have a Salesforce account. You should also be able to sign in to the Salesforce application with the following permissions:
  • View Setup and Configuration
  • API Enabled. Contact your organization's Salesforce Admin for more details.
• Smartsheet Salesforce Connector must be a premium application available on the plan, and you should have already established the initial connection to the Salesforce environment.
• If your System Admin activates the Restrict Users setting in the Salesforce Connector, you must also hold the Smartsheet Salesforce Connector User role. This role is assigned in the Smartsheet Admin Center or the Salesforce Connector interface.
• If you're unable to access the Salesforce Connector and the error message instructs you to reach out to your Smartsheet System Admin, you may need to have your permissions granted. Learn how to contact your Sys Admin. 

Create a workflow

Once you've obtained permissions and established the initial connection to your Salesforce environment, users can create workflows to sync information between Salesforce and Smartsheet.

With the Smartsheet Salesforce Connector, you can push information in a single direction (from Salesforce to Smartsheet or from Smartsheet to Salesforce) or bi-directionally, instantly updating issues in both applications.

You can sync with an existing sheet or create a new sheet to launch a Smartsheet project using Salesforce records.

While you're only required to have Editor permissions or higher on the target sheet, it's recommended that you have at least Admin permission levels, as you may need to add new columns to the sheet during the workflow-building process.

 Step 1: Start the workflow wizard

1. Sign in to the Smartsheet Salesforce Connector.
2. Select Add Workflow to start the workflow wizard.

You can also access the Jira Connector in Table view by navigating to Data Integrations > Manage Connectors > Salesforce, or Data Integrations > Create workflow, and then select the Salesforce tile in the Data Integrations panel.

Step 2: Configure the settings      

1. Select the desired workflow direction. Once you've saved the workflow, you can't change it. This determines whether the workflow is manual or automatic.

   In Smartsheet, you can't automatically map auto-number columns, system columns, or columns containing formulas using the Salesforce Connector. If you want to sync values from these columns into Salesforce, set up a one-way connection and manually initiate the sync.

2. To make any fields bi-directional and automatically synced between Smartsheet and Salesforce, select Keep issues automatically updated in both Smartsheet and Salesforce. With this setting, you can decide later whether a specific field is bi-directional or just one-way.
3. Select the sheet you want to sync Salesforce data to, or Create a new sheet. You can't change this once you've saved the workflow. 

You can only create one Connector workflow per sheet.

4. Select the Salesforce object you want to sync to the sheet. Once you've saved the workflow, you can't change it. 

5. Select Continue.

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Step 3: Map the fields 

Smartsheet maps Salesforce fields to columns. The Salesforce fields you can choose depend on the fields you've selected for the workflow in the Salesforce Object. When you configure field mapping, you can decide how the data should flow.

Finish the mappings on this page, remove or add Salesforce fields and Smartsheet columns as needed, and select Continue when done.

Things to consider

• Always specify a Smartsheet column when mapping Salesforce fields. You can't leave the Smartsheet column empty.
• You might only see specific Salesforce fields based on your Salesforce account permissions.
• Ensure you include the Record ID and Error columns. Both appear automatically in your field mapping and can only flow from Salesforce to Smartsheet. Smartsheet introduces a new Record ID and Error columns if you use an existing sheet. However, you can map these to existing columns.
• Always remember that the Record ID is the key identifier for issues in Salesforce. You should align it with the primary column in the sheet to guarantee the correct creation of parent rows and hierarchy. If you remove any of these columns in Smartsheet, you interrupt the workflow, resulting in an error during the next data sync.
• Remember that the field you link to determines the column type when you select New column in Smartsheet during mapping. For instance, a Salesforce date aligns with a Smartsheet date column, and you see the type displayed in parentheses.

Step 4: Optional filters

Creating filters is an optional but helpful way to control the data synced between Smartsheet and Salesforce. If you'd like to skip filtering your data, select Continue on the Salesforce filters and Sheet filters pages, then skip to Step 5. 

You can define filters with either Salesforce filters or sheet filters. When considering which type of filter to use, think if you're only trying to bring certain pieces of information from Salesforce into Smartsheet (for example, always showing issues showing all records associated with a particular customer, which would be a good reason to use Salesforce filters) or if you only want specific lines from Smartsheet to sync with Salesforce (for example, only rows that have a checkbox checked in a specific column, which would be a good reason to use sheet filters). 

Salesforce filters

You can define Salesforce filters by selecting Add filter, defining your filter criteria, and selecting the field you'd like to filter by. All filters added have an AND relationship. 

Sheet filters

Define sheet filters by selecting Add filter, then selecting the Smartsheet columns to filter by, and entering the filter criteria. All filters added have an AND relationship.

The available filter criteria depend on the columns present in your sheet. If you want to filter options that aren't listed, add a new column to the sheet first.

Step 5: Define row groups (Optional)

As an optional step, you can define row groupings for your Salesforce records by Salesforce fields (for example, Stage) or primary column values in your sheet. 

To add a row grouping, select Add group and either select the Salesforce field you'd like to group by or list the primary column value you’d like to group by in Add Custom Group.

When you define custom row groups by the primary column of your sheet, you can use an existing value in your primary column or create a new value to create a new parent row grouping. 

If your custom row group doesn't exist within the current hierarchy, the new parent row appears at the bottom of your sheet.

Notes

• If you've mapped your Record ID field to a column other than the primary column in the sheet, you can't generate new records in Salesforce from Smartsheet with Row grouping on. However, you can still initiate new records in Salesforce and sync them to Smartsheet.
• Issues that lack a grouping value in Salesforce appear under a hierarchy titled Field '[Group]' not set.

Step 6: Save your workflow

The Update Summary on the Save page shows the number of fields updated in Salesforce and Smartsheet. If the Update Summary count appears unexpectedly high or low, go back and add or remove filters as needed.

1. Once you're satisfied with the Update Summary count, label your workflow under Workflow Name. This way, you can quickly locate it later on the Salesforce Connector dashboard.
2. If you want to convert new rows in Smartsheet to items in Salesforce, check the box next to Sync new rows created in Smartsheet to Salesforce.
3. Finally, after all your adjustments, select Save Workflow.

Once you've saved the workflow, you can’t change any values on the Settings page, such as the workflow direction, the synced sheet, or the Salesforce Object included in this workflow.

After saving your workflow, you land on the dashboard, where it automatically runs and updates records based on your configuration settings. A bi-directional sync continues to run automatically unless deactivated or deleted. You must manually run the workflow for a one-way sync setup to update.

Edit workflows

You can always edit the workflow you created. Smartsheet Salesforce Admins can deactivate or delete any organizational workflows, but they can't edit them.

To edit the workflow, select the gear icon to the left of the workflow name and select any of the following: 

• Edit Workflow: Return to the workflow wizard to make changes. You can't change the workflow direction, sheet sync, or the Salesforce Object included.
• Rename Workflow: Change the workflow name.
• Disable/Enable Workflow: Stop or start the workflow automation.
• Delete Workflow: Delete the workflow entirely. You can't recover deleted workflows.

If a user has Owner or Admin permissions on a sheet linked to a Salesforce Connector, they have access to perform the actions listed above, as long as they:

• Are a Licensed Smartsheet User or Member in the same organization
• Have a valid Salesforce license
• If Restrict Users is turned on: have Salesforce Connector Admin or Salesforce Connector User permissions.

Sheet Owners and Admins can access these functions from the sheet linked to the workflow in two ways:

• From Grid View, by selecting the Connectors Cuff icon located in the right sidebar.
• From Table View,  by selecting Data Integrations > Manage Connectors and selecting the relevant Connector.

Filtered out by Connector—not synced

Suppose a sheet row no longer syncs with Salesforce, either due to filter conditions in the workflow or because the record no longer exists in Salesforce. In that case, the row automatically moves to the Filtered out by Connector—not synced section of your sheet.

Even though a row is no longer synced, it might contain essential column data, attachments, or comments. Because of this, Smartsheet doesn't delete rows from your sheet. Instead, it creates this Filtered out by Conwinector—not synced section to retain the information filtered out by the Connector. 

You can't turn off the Filtered out by Connector—not synced functionality, as it protects against data loss due to accidental workflow or other changes. If you’re sure you don’t need the items listed under the Filtered out by Connector—not synced row, you can delete the rows from your sheet. The rows in question don't return to the sheet until they meet the filter criteria set in the Connector workflow.

If you move a row to Filtered out by Connector—not synced, and it begins to match the filter criteria again, it automatically starts syncing again and moves from the Filtered out by Connector—not synced section of your sheet to the correct sheet section (based on row groupings).