Overview
Managing multiple construction projects across different locations can be challenging, often requiring project managers to juggle multiple applications to stay on top of progress. This fragmented approach makes it difficult to maintain a clear, real-time overview of tasks and deadlines.
By integrating Fieldwire with Google Sheets, Microsoft Excel, or Smartsheet, you can automatically import and track tasks in a centralized cross-project dashboard. This reduces the need to switch between documents, emails, and project management tools while helping you monitor deadlines, dependencies, and responsibilities in one place.
This guide will walk you through connecting Fieldwire to MS Excel, Google Sheets, and Smartsheet ensuring you can efficiently manage tasks across projects from a single, streamlined view.
Note: For general questions and bug troubleshooting related to Google Sheets, MS Excel, or Smartsheet please contact their respective support teams. The Fieldwire Support team can assist with issues related to the initial dashboard generation, but this feature is primarily self-service.
Table of Contents
- Requirements
- Microsoft Excel & Google Sheets
- Smartsheet
Requirements:
To use the Fieldwire integrations with Google Sheets, MS Excel, and Smartsheet you will need:
- Account Manager permission on a Fieldwire account. (see Introduction to Account Permission Levels: Managers, Account Users, and Project Users for more information)
- A Business or Business Plus subscription. (How to upgrade to a Pro, Business, or Business Plus account)
Microsoft Excel & Google Sheets
Demo Video: Connecting MS Excel and Google Sheets
Watch this video for a step-by-step guide on connecting Fieldwire to Google Sheets and MS Excel:
Microsoft Excel
Setting up the Integration (Mac & Windows)
Follow these steps to integrate Fieldwire with MS Excel:
1. Go to the Integrations tab in Fieldwire and select Microsoft Excel.
2. Click + New dashboard and enter a meaningful name.
3. Select projects from the Account projects dropdown and click Generate dashboard. The tasks from these projects will be included in your dashboard.
4. Click the kebab menu (⋮) and select Download dashboard.
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The dashboard will download as an Excel file.
For MacOS:
- Open the Excel file and click Enable Content.
- Click Connect on the "Connect to data source" pop-up.
- If an Alert appears, click OK.
- Go to the Data tab.
- Click the Get Data dropdown and select Launch Power Query Editor.
- Click Options > Privacy.
- Enable Allow combining data from multiple sources and click OK.
- Close Power Query Editor, selecting Keep when prompted.
Watch process below:
After following the steps above, if data does not appear:
- Go to the Data tab and click Refresh All.
- Click Connect on the pop-up.
- Click Refresh All again.
- Select Yes to confirm overwriting the PivotTable.
- Your Fieldwire tasks should now be visible!
Tip: You can modify the My Dashboard and Gantt Chart tabs but do not edit Tasks from Fieldwire or Sources, as these power the dashboard.
Dashboard example:
For Windows PC:
- Open the Excel file
- If a Protected View message appears, close Excel.
- Right-click the file, select Properties, check Unblock, and click OK.
- Reopen the Excel file and click Enable Content.
- When prompted, check Ignore Privacy Levels, and click Save.
- Go to Data tab and click Refresh All.
- Select Yes if prompted to overwrite the PivotTable.
Steps 1-3
Steps 4-7
Tip: Modify dashboards but do not edit Tasks from Fieldwire or Sources, as these power the dashboard.
Using Data in MS Excel
Dashboard view
Key areas to note:
- Row 1 displays the sync status.
- The last refresh date and time are shown next to the sync status.
- Columns Assignee, Status, Category, and Project Name (Rows 2-17) act as task filters.
- Task data starts from Row 20 onward.
Gantt Chart view
On the Gantt chart tab, you can see the status of Tasks in Fieldwire by:
- Select a Quarter (Q1, Q2, etc.) in the upper left to view tasks for that period(will be displayed on the right-hand side of the spreadsheet).
- Blue Tasks = Incomplete tasks.
- Green Tasks = Verified tasks.
Google Sheets
Setting Up the Integration
- Go to the Integrations tab in Fieldwire and select Google Sheets.
- Click + New dashboard and enter a meaningful name.
- Select projects from the Account projects dropdown and click Generate dashboard.
- Click the kebab menu (⋮) and select Download dashboard (this will download to the computer's files).
Connecting Google Sheets to Fieldwire
- Upload the .xlsx file to Google Drive. Open the file.
- Click Allow Access to connect to Fieldwire.
- Task information will import to the 'Tasks from Fieldwire' tab.
Important: Do not edit the Tasks from Fieldwire tab, as it powers the dashboard.
Key areas to note:
- Status of the sync between Fieldwire and Excel is located top of the table in Row 1. If connection was unsuccessful, it will be displayed in that same location.
- Last date of data refresh is located next to the sync status.
- 'Assignee', 'Status', 'Category', and 'Project name' columns at the top of the page (rows 3) function as task filters to locate tasks.
- All task information pulled from Fieldwire will display in the rows below (roughly row 7 and below)
Optimizing Your Google Sheets Dashboard
Suggestions for improving your navigation.
Convert the PivotTable into a Table
- Click the Edit (pencil icon) in the lower-left corner.
- In the Pivot Table Editor, select Repeat row labels for all columns.
- This change enables better chart creation (Demo below).
Create a Gantt Chart in Google Sheets
- Click Insert > Timeline.
- Select desired data and click OK.
- Data imported > Customize using the right-hand Settings panel:
- Start date / End date → Task duration.
- Card title → Task name from Fieldwire.
- Card color → Optional, if desired set manually (not imported from Fieldwire).
- Card detail → Optional, including 'Assignee' (assignee of the task in Fieldwire).
- Card group → Organize by category, status, etc.
Clicking a task shows details, including a direct Fieldwire link (Demo below).
Best Practices:
- Do not modify Graph Sources, Tasks from Fieldwire, or Sources tabs.
- Only edit the My Dashboard sheet or create custom sheets.
- Use Google Sheets Gantt View for easy task tracking (see demo video above).
- Excel does not support hyperlinks in PivotTables, so copy-paste Fieldwire links into your browser.
- Always check the dashboard header for refresh status / date and connection issues.
Troubleshooting
Compatibility Warning
If you followed the setup guide above to set up an Excel dashboard, but you're seeing the error below, please update your instance of Excel to the latest version available.
Windows users can update Microsoft Excel by launching the application, navigating to File > Account > Update Options > Update Now.
For Mac users, navigate to Help > Check for Updates. If you have a Microsoft 365 subscription, updates are usually automatic, but you can manually check.
Detailed Steps for Windows:
- Open Excel: Launch the Microsoft Excel application.
- Go to Account: Click on the File tab, then select Account from the options on the left side.
- Update Options: Under "Product Information," you'll find "Update Options".
- Update Now: Click on "Update Now" to initiate the update process.
- Follow Instructions: Excel will check for updates, download them, and apply them. You may need to close Excel during the update process.
Detailed Steps for Mac:
- Open Excel: Launch the Microsoft Excel application.
- Go to Help: Click on the "Help" menu in the top menu bar.
- Check for Updates: Select "Check for Updates" from the Help menu.
- Follow Instructions: The update process will begin. You may need to restart Excel after the update.
FAQs (for MS Excel and Google Sheets):
Frequently asked questions.
How frequent is the refresh?
Every 24 hours. The last refresh time is displayed on the My Dashboard sheet.
Can I include any project in my dashboard?
Yes, as long as it belongs to your account.
Is the dashboard public
Anyone with access to the .xlsx file can view it.
Can I have multiple dashboards at once?
Yes, multiple dashboards are supported.
How many tasks can I have per dashboard?
- Excel: Up to 25,000 tasks per dashboard.
- Google Sheets: Up to 4,000 tasks per dashboard. (Tasks farthest in the future will be removed if limits are exceeded.)
Smartsheet
To use Smartsheet cross-project analytics, you will need to be at least on the Business subscription tier. The integration will allow you to automatically import and track your Fieldwire tasks in Smartsheet.
Demo Video: Connecting Smartsheet
Connecting Smartsheet with Fieldwire
- Go to the Integrations tab in Fieldwire and select Smartsheet
- Click Connect Smartsheet account
- Enter a meaningful name to identify the connected Smartsheet account and click Connect
- Click Allow to connect Smartsheet to Fieldwire
- Click + New dashboard
- Enter a name for the dashboard and select projects from the Account projects dropdown
- Click Generate dashboard
- Click the kebab menu (⋮) and select Open dashboard (this will download to the computer's files)
Steps 1-4:
Steps 5-8:
Utilizing and Optimizing the Smartsheet <> Fieldwire Connection
Once the dashboard has finished generating,
- Navigate to Smartsheet.
- The Fieldwire tasks are now visible in Smartsheet and will be refreshed on a daily basis. (See FAQ below for more detailed information)
- See that there is a new Workspace named Fieldwire
- Click on the Fieldwire Workspace where you'll see the dashboards that you've generated
- Select the dashboard you want to view
- You'll be able to see all of the task data from the projects you previously selected when first generating the dashboard, including a task URL, which will take you directly to that task in Fieldwire
- To check the status of the connection and the last refresh time, click the Summary button on the right-hand side of the page
- To change the visualization of the task data, you can click the Grid tab within Smartsheet and try out the options listed there
Troubleshooting (for Smartsheet)
Requiring Access
If you click on Open dashboard and see the screen shown in the first screenshot below, this means the user who connected Smartsheet to Fieldwire didn't give you the permission to access the dashboard.
To rectify this, you can click on the Request access button.
However the best way to solve this issue once and for all is to ask the user who connected Smartsheet to Fieldwire to share access to the workspace. That person needs to
- Go to the workspace in Smartsheet
- Right-click on the workspace
- Select Share
- Share the workspace with you (and others who need access to it)
FAQs (for Smartsheet)
How frequent is the refresh?
Dashboards are refreshed every day at 2am UTC.
Can I include any project in my dashboard?
Any project belonging to your account can be included.
Is the dashboard public?
No, people can only access it is shared with them via Smartsheet.
Can I have multiple dashboards at once?
Yes, you can create up to 100 dashboards.
How many tasks can I have per dashboard?
You can have up to 20,000 tasks per Smartsheet dashboard. If there is more than 20k tasks in a dashboard, we will automatically remove tasks without a start date. A warning will be shown to alert that some tasks are missing.
If the limit is still reached after we have removed all tasks without a start date, then we will remove tasks whose start date is the furthest away into the future until the dashboard gets below 20,000 total tasks.
Are there any Smartsheet limitations?
Smartsheet accounts hosted on Smartsheet.eu cannot use this integration at launch. We will support EU hosted Smartsheet accounts several weeks after launch.
This should have limited impact - only US based Fieldwire customers requested a Smartsheet integration. On top of that, Smartsheet data is not hosted by default on Smartsheet.eu for EU customers.
What are the best practices for using the Smartsheet integration with Fieldwire?
Don’t forget to check the refresh date and status of the connection on the header of the dashboard. If an issue occurs, we will mention it there.