In a traditional spreadsheet, every user sees the contents of your sheets in the same way—if you want to hide or freeze columns, for example, everyone else will be forced to see those changes as well.

In SmartSuite, however, you can create Views, which are set, specified ways of looking at your information. What does this mean? Well, here are some examples of views you could create:

The important thing to understand is that a View is just a different way of looking at the same underlying data This means that if you edit the data in a record while in one view, it will change that data for all views since all views are looking at the same record.

Views are specific to each individual Table in your solution: you can use Views to show only specific records or fields, and apply other configurations to manage the information in that view. Each view can have its own unique configurations to hide, sort, and filter records within your solution.

You can select from the following view permissions:

My Favorites

Each user selects which views they want to be their favorites

Public Views

Managed by SmartSuite Solution Managers

Private Views

Personal views to support the specific work you are doing
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View projects and processes in a better than spreadsheet grid format with powerful sort, filter, group, and inline edit capabilities. Build what you want, from basic to advanced.

View your data as visual cards that can include logos, images, PDFs, documents, spreadsheets, and other rich content.
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Visualize a workflow through the different stages, track progress, and assign tasks in a manner that removes bottlenecks.

View records in a calendar format of your choosing, sorted by a date or date range.

View your projects and processes in a timeline format that is great for visualizing work streams and schedules over a custom period of time.
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View any of your location data in a fully interactive map format that includes powerful display features. SmartSuite is your digital playground for physical locations.

Visualize your data with multiple chart types, from bar and line charts to bubble, heat map, scatter, donut, and more.

Build powerful, visually thrilling views into your information. Gain visual insight into the performance of any team, proces,s or project, and make smarter business decisions.

Collect data from external users with SmartSuite Forms. You can share a link to a responsive form view or embed it in your existing website.

The Gantt view offers a comprehensive view of task dependencies, start and end dates, duration, and assigned team members. The primary goal of Gantt View is to facilitate efficient project planning and execution by illustrating task dependencies, durations, and project milestones.

The View Panel lets you navigate all of the views and folders (which contain Views) in your Table. With our latest update, the panel is displayed on the left side of the screen, enabling quick and organized access to all of your Views.

The View Panel has two modes:

To change between expanded and collapsed mode, click on the arrow icon displayed at the top-right corner of the panel. This button toggles your display between expanded and collapsed mode.

Accessing Views and Folders

To access your views when the panel is collapsed, simply hover over the view panel and it will expand. While your cursor is in the panel area it will remain open and allow you to select a View, reorder views, or add additional Views.

Changing to Expanded Display

To keep the view menu open, select the arrow (pointing right) in the upper right side of the panel - it will have a tooltip labeled Open Navigation. This button toggles the view state between collapsed and expanded.

Whether the View Panel is collapsed or expanded by default, you work with Views and Folders in the same way. This section will explore the functions available to you as you navigate and organize your Views.

Accessing a View is easy, just click on its name or icon. The right side panel of your screen will display the contents of the selected View.

There are several other features available to you as you navigate:

Add New Views - Footer Button

If you have permission to create a View, you can always use the Create New View button that is displayed in the footer of the View Panel to create a new View or folder.

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Clicking the 3-dot menu icon at the right side of a View will present you with a list of available options:

Note that you will only see the options displayed that you have the permission to perform. Let's explore each of these options:

Clicking this option toggles the View as a "favorite." Your favorite Views are displayed in a special folder at the top of the list called My Favorites. This folder is shown with a star icon when not hovered, and cannot be repositioned - it's always right up top for easy access.

Favorite Views are actually displayed in the View Panel twice, once in the My Favorites list and a second time wherever it would normally be displayed in the list. Views in folders as well as private Views can be favorites.

This same option displays as "Remove from My Favorites" when it's already on the list, allowing you to drop a View from your favorites when it's no longer in use.

This option allows you to rename an existing View. Clicking it will put the View name into edit mode and place your cursor at the end of the text.

You will have the option to include descriptions for Views, which can either appear as icons to the right of the View name, or be displayed below the View name when clicked for increased accessibility.

The description appears in a tooltip when you hover the View and can either appear as icons to the right of the View name.

Displaying the description directly below the View's name makes it easier for others to understand the purpose of that View.
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Use the toggle control inside the Edit Description menu to set the display type.

To make a copy of a View, click Duplicate View in the context menu. You'll be shown a dialog that lets you name the View. By default copied Views will be private Views, but you can choose to make it public if you have Full Access or higher permission to the Table.

Users with Full Access or higher permission can choose to delete a View. You will be prompted to confirm the deletion, as deleted Views cannot be restored.

Views can be in one of two privacy states: Public or Private. Public Views are displayed to all users with access to the Table, and Private Views are displayed only to the user that created them.

If you have permission to modify the View, you can toggle whether changes made when using the View are automatically saved. This setting defaults to ON, meaning that your changes to any View setting (sort, filter, group, etc.) are saved to the View as soon as they are made - in other words everyone displaying the View will see those changes.

For Views that are used by a large number of users you may consider toggling this setting off, which will cause SmartSuite to prompt you to save changes when you modify a View. Only when you click the Save button will the changes be applied to the View itself - otherwise your changes are only applied during your current session.

If your Table has a lot of views, it may be helpful for you to search for a specific View by name. Click on the search icon displayed at the top left of the View Panel to get started.

You will then have the ability to start typing, and the list of views will be limited to those containing the text that you enter. Note that Views contained in folders are searched as well, but their folder is not displayed when searching to eliminate clutter and let you hone in on the Views you're looking for.

A private view refers to a view that is only visible to the user who created it. It is not accessible or visible to other users. Private views are useful when a user wants to focus on their own tasks and assignments without being overwhelmed by everyone else's work.

Only you can edit and save changes to your private views. They appear at the bottom of the view dropdown under "My Private Views:"

Private Views are displayed with options for renaming and ordering, similar to public folders.

Saving a Private View as a Favorite

If there is a view in your private folder that you use frequently, you may want to add to your favorites. This will place the view in a folder at the top of the view menu titled My Favorites.

What Values are Saved in my Personal Saved View?

Updates to the following are saved:

Note that values for Find are NOT saved, as you generally use that setting interactively with very frequent changes.

Changing Private View Properties

It can't get any easier - all of your changes to personal saved views are saved automatically! SmartSuite will even remember what you viewed last and return you to that view during the same session.
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You can inhibit autosave through the three-dot dropdown to the right of each saved view.

The View folder feature allows you to organize your Views, placing them in a folder that you can name and position within the View list.

Folders can be expanded or collapsed by clicking on their name or icon in the View list. Views contained in a folder can be clicked on to display their contents, just like Views outside of a folder.

Folders have several other functions and capabilities that are available to you:

Adding a New View

Add a new View directly into a specific folder by clicking the plus (+) icon displayed just left of the 3-dot menu when you hover over the folder. The "Explore View Types" dialog will be displayed, allowing you to choose the type of View you want to add.

Moving Views In and Out of Folders

Grab a View and you can reposition it in the View list, including moving it in and out of a folder. Release the View to drop it into position.

You can also reorder Views within an individual Folder, dragging them up or down in the list.

Repositioning a Folder

Just like Views, folders themselves can be repositioned in the View list. Grab the folder name and drag it to the spot where you want it, then release your mouse button.

Note that you cannot put folders inside of folders - dropping a folder on top of another folder will move it above or below the targeted folder, depending on when you release the mouse button.

Folder Context Menu

Clicking the 3-dot menu icon at the right side of a folder will present you with a list of available options: