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Do I need to be an admin to generate an API access token on free Smartsheet Gov?

I am currently an editor on smartsheet gov and have sharing permissions, but I cannot generate an access token. Do I need to be made an admin to be able to do this? Or does the plan need to be upgraded to a certain tier?

For regular smartsheet, the business plan allows people to make api calls, but sales told me that Smartsheet Gov is its own product so it's separate from plain smartsheet Business and Enterprise plans.

Any help would be greatly appreciated!!

Still looking through docs but haven't found anything yet.

dgoose
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  • Are you a licensed user, or a "free" (unlicensed) user that's been granted 'edit' access to certain sheets? Only licensed users can create API tokens. See [here](https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/44901/api-access-tokens-for-non-licensed-users) for related Q&A -- although not specifically about Smartsheet.gov, seems like the same would apply to Smartsheet.gov. – Kim Brandl Feb 28 '23 at 23:13
  • FYI, this page describes what I mean by "free" user and explains the different types of free users (i.e., unlicensed user vs free collaborator): https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/520100-user-types#toc-free-user. As far as I know, neither type of "free" user account will be allowed to create API access tokens. – Kim Brandl Feb 28 '23 at 23:30
  • Hi, thank you for the response! I am a "free" (unlicensed) user that's been granted 'edit' access. I can't generate tokens on my end. Do you happen to know if a licensed user can generate a token and have other team members use it? – dgoose Mar 03 '23 at 16:52
  • I've moved our dialog into an answer, rather than continuing it here in the comments. If my answer sufficiently addresses your question(s) then please mark it as "Accepted", as doing so will make others more likely to benefit from the info. Thanks! – Kim Brandl Mar 03 '23 at 21:35

2 Answers2

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Instead of asking for permission, I would just try, follow the instructions here, https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2482389-generate-API-key

good luck,

Alex Argumedo
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If you're a "free" (unlicensed) user, then it's expected that you're unable to create an API token, as only licensed users can create API tokens. See here for related Q&A: https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/44901/api-access-tokens-for-non-licensed-users -- although not specifically about Smartsheet.gov, seems like the same would apply to Smartsheet.gov.

FYI, this page describes what I mean by "free" user and explains the different types of free users (i.e., unlicensed user vs free collaborator): help.smartsheet.com/articles/520100-user-types#toc-free-user. As far as I know, neither type of "free" user account will be allowed to create API access tokens.

In response to the additional question you asked in a comment on your original post:

  • An API token is associated with (owned by) the user who logs into the Smartsheet app and creates it. This means that any API calls using that token will be issued by that user account.
  • While it would be possible for a licensed user to generate an API token and then communicate its value to you for you to use in whatever script you're creating -- any API calls that are issued using that token will be issued as the token owner (user account). Amongst other things, this means that those API calls will only be able to access the sheets that the token owner has access to, with the permissions / access rights of that token owner. This could be problematic if/when your script needs to access a sheet that the token owner doesn't have access to, or needs to access a sheet with greater permissions than the token owner possesses.
Kim Brandl
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