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Building a Grid
Building a Grid

The basics of building and using your Grid

Lindsey Bardarik avatar
Written by Lindsey Bardarik
Updated over a week ago

Grid is the easiest and fastest way to update every task, opportunity, and to-do across your CRM, all in real time via one easy-to-use spreadsheet.

Here's a step-by-step process to build your Grid.

For an overview of Grid, visit our Grid Overview page.


Create a new Grid

Simply click the New Grid button on the Grid page to launch the Grid Configuration tool. From here, you'll name your Grid and select your Source, Object, Fields, and Conditions to display only what you care about.

You can also duplicate an existing Grid that you or a colleague has shared with you by selecting the Copy icon from your Grid dashboard or the shared Grid, respectively.


Choose your Source and Object

In Details, choose the Source from which you want to get and write back information. Click Select Source, and pick your platform from the dropdown list. If you haven't, you'll be prompted to authenticate your Source, which you can learn about in our Grid and User Authentication guide (if you have issues, contact your system admin).

Screengrab of the Details section of the Grid build screen, highlighting the Source dropdown menu. Authenticated sources can be selected are are in full opacity, whereas platforms that need to be authenticated will be greyed out, with a clickable "Authenticate" link.

Next, select the Object to use as your data source. Some objects you may want to access in Salesforce, for example, include Account, Opportunity, or Task. If you're unsure of which to choose, refer to the source platform or your system admin.

Screengrab of the Details section of the Grid build screen, highlighting the Object selection button on the right side of the page and the dropdown menu of available objects that appears when clicked.

Configure Fields

Fields are the categories of information in your Source, and you will select the Fields you want as columns in your Grid. Grid can surface any standard or custom field you might be interested in or need to update regularly.

Permissions are inherited from the Source, so anything you are able to see and edit in your Source platform, you will be able to see and edit in Grid. The opposite goes for anything you don't have access to in your Source.

Don't know where to start? Explore some of the most common Grid use cases below:


Set your Conditions

Use Conditions to refine your Grid results to only the most relevant data you need. Conditions are super customizable and can be based on parameters like assigned user, opportunity stage, close date, and more.

For your Grid to function, you must select at least one Condition. Here are some common use cases and how we might set them up as conditions:

Use Case

Field

Operator

1. See only opportunities for which the current viewer is the Owner

Owner

equals User

--

2. See only opportunities for which one specific person is the owner

Owner

Is Equal To

[Person's Name]

3. See open opportunities

Stage

Is not one of

Closed Won; Closed Lost

4. See opportunities set to close this quarter

Close Date

Is this

Quarter

Note: Use Case 1 dynamically changes based on who is looking at the Grid. This is helpful if you are building a template for others' personal use. Use Case 2 does not dynamically change based on who's looking at the Grid. This is helpful if you're planning on sending this exact Grid to others to review.

Find more example Condition structures below:

You may want to layer multiple conditions-- for instance, you may want to only see opportunities that are live AND assigned to you. Simply select "Add Condition" for each additional condition. Conditions will be layered as AND statements by default, but can be toggled in the bottom right into OR statements.

Fields and Conditions are endlessly customizable, making Grid powerful and easy to personalize for your needs.


Grid Reminders (Optional)

Grid Reminders eliminate the hassle of remembering (or forgetting) to update your CRM with scheduled reminders to help you quickly and proactively manage your accounts, pipeline, or tasks.

Grid Reminders let you know via messaging platform when it’s time to update your records and link you directly to your Grid. You can set your own reminders based on your needs, putting you in control of your workflow, with Grid Reminders here to help.

To set up a Grid reminder, simply scroll to the Reminders section of the Grid Configuration page, either from an existing Grid by selecting Configure, or as you’re building a new one.

Here, you can set the day of the week to receive a reminder to check your Grid, and the time of day to receive it. You can select as many days of the week as needed, as well as additional times of day. Just click add reminder if you’d like to receive messages at different times throughout the day or your week.

You can also set a custom message if you wish.

Once the day and Time has come for your reminder, Troops will send you a reminder in your messaging app, and a link to your Grid, so you have quick and easy access to updating your records in minutes.

Some times that we like to set Grid reminders for ourselves include:

  • A few hours before a manager 1:1

  • Monday mornings as we prep for our week

  • The day before forecast calls are reviewed


Saving, using and reconfiguring your Grid

Once you're satisfied with your Grid's structure, select Apply and you'll be taken to your Grid. Congrats, you've built your first Grid!

Updating cells: To update any cell in your Grid, simply double-click the cell and make your changes. Once you finish making changes, the change will automatically be written back to the Source, and the cell will produce a checkmark to indicate this.

Viewing cells with long entries: If some cells have entries that are longer than its width, hover over the cell and a window will appear that reveals the entire entry.

Reorganizing Field columns: Like any spreadsheet, you can pull the column borders left and right to expand or contract your view of a given column. You can also move entire field columns to change the order in which they appear.

Actions: The Actions column on the right side of your Grid houses 2 icons: Edit Records (Pencil Icon) and View in Source (Open Window Icon)

Field Sort and Pin: If you hover over any Field column header, you will see two icons appear: Sort and Pin.

  • Sort: allows you to sort the order alphabetically or numerically, in increasing or decreasing order.

  • Pin: allows you to pin or freeze a column to the side of your Grid. This is helpful if you have many fields that require you to scroll left and right to see all of them.

New Record: You can create a new record directly from Grid without having to go into your CRM. Simply tap the New Record button on the top left side of your Grid, and you will be prompted to fill in any relevant fields.

Search: Particularly helpful if your Grid has many records, the Search function helps you hone in on any term, including entries in fields like Account, Owner, and Stage, in your Grid.

Share: Get a sharable link to your Grid configuration with by clicking the Share button on the top right corner. There are some nuances to sharing Grids, and you can learn more about this topic here:

Configure: To make changes to the Grid's name, Fields, or Conditions, click the Configure button in the top right corner to return to the Grid build view. Once you're done, apply your changes and you will see your Grid with its updated configuration. Note that Source and Object can't be changed once the Grid has been built.

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