How to Set Up Smartsheet Automations: Complete Guide 2026

Why Smartsheet Automations Are a Game-Changer in 2026

Smartsheet’s automation engine is one of the most underused features in the platform — and one of the highest-ROI features when you unlock it. According to Smartsheet’s own data, teams that deploy automations save an average of 5+ hours per person per week on status updates, approvals, and notifications that used to require manual follow-up.

In 2026, Smartsheet automations support hundreds of trigger types, conditional logic, and cross-sheet actions. The visual workflow builder requires no coding, yet can handle sophisticated multi-step workflows that would previously require a dedicated developer or a tool like Zapier.

Whether you want to automatically notify stakeholders when a task is overdue, route approval requests to managers, or populate data across multiple sheets, this guide covers it step by step.

Understanding Smartsheet Automation: The Core Building Blocks

Every Smartsheet automation is built from three components:

1. Triggers — The condition that starts the workflow. Examples: a row is added, a date arrives, a checkbox is checked, a specific column changes value, or a scheduled time occurs.

2. Conditions (Optional) — Filters that narrow which rows the automation applies to. Example: “Only run this automation if the Status column equals ‘Overdue’ AND the Priority column equals ‘High.'”

3. Actions — What happens when the trigger fires. Examples: send an alert, send an update request, send an approval request, change a cell value, copy a row, move a row, lock a row, or create a new row.

Step 1: Accessing the Automation Panel

To start building automations in Smartsheet:

1. Open the sheet you want to automate
2. Click the Automation tab in the top menu bar
3. Select Manage Workflows from the dropdown
4. Click Create Workflow (or choose from the template gallery)
5. The visual workflow builder opens — you’ll see the Trigger box at the top and the Action box below

Step 2: Setting Up an Alert Automation

Alert automations are the most common starting point. They send email or in-app notifications to specific people when something changes in your sheet.

Example: Alert When a Task Becomes Overdue

1. Click Create Workflow → Alert Someone
2. Trigger: Select “Based on a date” → Choose your “Due Date” column → Set “When date is past” → Frequency: Daily
3. Add Condition: Click “+ Add Condition” → Set “Status” “is not” “Complete”
4. Action: Select “Send Alert” → Choose recipients (task assignee, sheet owner, or specific email) → Customize the message template
5. Click Save — the automation activates immediately

Step 3: Building an Approval Workflow

Approval workflows are where Smartsheet automations get powerful. Instead of chasing approvals over email, you can build a fully tracked, auditable approval chain directly in Smartsheet.

Example: Budget Approval Workflow

1. Add two columns to your sheet: “Approval Status” (dropdown: Pending / Approved / Rejected) and “Approver” (Contact List)
2. Go to Automation → Create Workflow → Request an Approval
3. Trigger: “When rows are added or changed” → Condition: “Budget Request” column “is not blank”
4. Action: “Request Approval” → Send to: the “Approver” column → Approval column: “Approval Status”
5. Add a follow-up action: Click “+ Add Action” → “Send Alert” → Notify the requester when the Approval Status changes
6. Save and test with a sample row

The approver receives an email with one-click Approve/Reject buttons. Their decision updates the “Approval Status” column automatically, triggering the notification back to the requester. No email threads. No lost approvals. Full audit trail.

Step 4: Setting Up Recurring Automations

Recurring automations run on a schedule rather than being triggered by a row change. These are perfect for weekly status report reminders, monthly review requests, or daily overdue task alerts.

Example: Weekly Status Update Request

1. Go to Automation → Create Workflow → Request an Update
2. Trigger: “At a specific time” → Set day: Every Monday → Time: 9:00 AM
3. Condition: Status “is not” “Complete” (only ask for updates on open tasks)
4. Action: “Request an Update” → Send to: the “Assigned To” column → Select which fields they can edit (e.g., Status, % Complete, Notes)
5. Save — every Monday morning, assignees receive a personalized update form for each of their open tasks

Step 5: Row Actions — Move, Copy, and Lock

Beyond notifications, Smartsheet automations can physically manipulate rows, enabling powerful intake-to-archive pipelines without manual intervention.

Move Row to Another Sheet (Intake Triage Example)

1. Create an “Intake” sheet and a “In Progress” sheet with matching columns
2. On the Intake sheet, go to Automation → Create Workflow → Move a Row
3. Trigger: When a row is changed → Condition: “Stage” column changes to “In Progress”
4. Action: Move Row → Destination: select your “In Progress” sheet
5. Save — requests automatically move from intake to the active work sheet when triaged

Automation Limits by Plan

Plan	Automations Per Sheet	Actions Per Month
Free	2 automated workflows	100 actions
Pro	25 workflows per sheet	Unlimited
Business / Enterprise	Unlimited workflows	Unlimited

5 Smartsheet Automation Best Practices for 2026

1. Name your workflows clearly. “Alert — Overdue Tasks — Daily” beats “Workflow 3.” You’ll thank yourself when managing 20+ automations across a sheet.

2. Test before going live. Use the “Test Workflow” button (available in Business/Enterprise) to trigger a test run without affecting real recipients. Catch broken logic before it sends 50 incorrect emails.

3. Use condition blocks aggressively. Condition blocks are the difference between a useful automation and a noisy one. Always filter by Status, Priority, or Team to ensure only relevant rows trigger each workflow.

4. Combine with Smartsheet Forms. Intake forms that trigger automations are extremely powerful. A form submission can simultaneously create a row, notify a team, send a confirmation to the submitter, and move the row to a triage sheet — all in seconds.

5. Audit your automations quarterly. Automations that were set up for old workflows silently continue running. Schedule a quarterly review of all active workflows to disable obsolete ones and update any that reference old column names or assignees.

Frequently Asked Questions