How to Build a Project Tracker in Smartsheet in 20 Minutes
How to Build a Project Tracker in Smartsheet in 20 Minutes
Short answer: Start from the Project with Dependencies template, rename the columns, add two formula columns for health and percent complete, then set a conditional format rule on the Status column. A working tracker for a 20-task project takes about 20 minutes.
Smartsheet is a spreadsheet that behaves like a database row-wise, and that is the part people miss. If you paste in a grid from Excel and treat it as a sheet, you get the worst of both worlds.
What is Smartsheet?
Smartsheet is a work management platform with a spreadsheet-style grid, Gantt view, automations, forms and dashboards. Pricing starts at $9 per user per month on the Pro plan, billed annually, with a 30-day trial. It is common in operations, PMO and marketing teams where someone needs a real dependency chain without Jira.
The split is real: Smartsheet handles dates, owners and dependencies well. It is not a document tool and not a database replacement, despite the row limits looking database-ish.
How do you start a project tracker?
Do not build from a blank sheet. Template selection saves the most time.
- Go to Solution Center and search “Project with Dependencies.”
- Create it, then delete the sample rows in bulk (select rows, right-click, Delete).
- Rename columns: keep Task Name, Assigned To, Start Date, End Date, Status, % Complete, Predecessor.
- Set the Status column type to Dropdown with values: Not Started, In Progress, Blocked, Done. Typed dropdowns beat free text — free text makes filters useless within a week.
- Switch to Gantt view and drag a few date bars to confirm dependency arrows move correctly.
That last step matters. Smartsheet’s predecessor column uses row numbers (for example 2FS for finish-to-start against row 2). If you cut and paste rows, those references move with the row, which is usually what you want, but confirm it before you build 50 more.
How do you add health and percent columns?
Two formula columns cover 90% of status reporting.
- Health:
=IF(Status@row = "Blocked", "Red", IF(End@row < TODAY(), "Red", IF(End@row < TODAY() + 3, "Yellow", "Green"))) - Rollup percent:
=AVG(CHILDREN())placed on parent rows so child task completion rolls up automatically.
Keep the health formula simple enough that a teammate can read it. I have seen four-level nested IFs that nobody dared to edit, which defeats the purpose.
Does Smartsheet send reminders automatically?
Yes, and this is the feature that justifies the price for most teams. Automations are configured per sheet: Automation → Create workflow → When a date is reached. A typical rule fires an email to the row owner three days before the due date if Status is not Done.
Two caveats from experience. Automations count against a monthly limit scaled by license type — the Pro plan’s allowance is generous but not infinite on large sheets. And automations do not fire retroactively; if a date passed before you set the rule, nobody gets pinged.
How does it compare with a plain spreadsheet?
| Need | Smartsheet | Google Sheets |
|---|---|---|
| Baselines and dependencies | native | manual |
| Row-level reminders | built in | script required |
| Concurrent editing at scale | solid past 5k rows | degrades |
| Price | $9+/user/month | free |
| Offline work | limited | good |
The honest tradeoff: if your project has 15 tasks and one owner, Google Sheets is free and fine. Smartsheet pays off when a missed date has a cost and someone else needs to see the reason.
What annoys people about it?
The grid feels familiar, which leads to familiar mistakes. Merged cells break formulas and filters. Free-text status columns drift into seven spellings of “in progress.” And the Gantt view on very large sheets gets slow — I have seen a 4,000-row sheet take several seconds per scroll on a mid-range laptop.
Also, seat-based pricing adds up fast for stakeholders who only want to look. Sharing a published read-only view or a dashboard link avoids buying them licenses.
Who should use this approach?
Project managers and ops leads running 20–200 task plans with real dependencies and multiple owners. Skip it for engineering sprint tracking (Jira wins on issue history) or for anything that is mostly document collaboration.
Quick Summary
- Cost: from $9/user/month annually, 30-day trial.
- Fastest start: “Project with Dependencies” template, then delete sample rows.
- Must-do: dropdown status column and a two-level health formula.
- Killer feature: date-triggered automations, limited by a monthly allowance.
- Avoid: merged cells, free-text status, and paid seats for read-only stakeholders.
Last updated October 2026.
