Sheets are vanishing, anyone know why?

Dborrelli

HELP PLEASE! Looking for any advice, tips/tricks, and suggestion...

We have several locations who have had very important sheets created for them at the conception of their build out. Corporate originally created these sheets then transferred ownership to a member onsite. All of a sudden, those sheets just vanished and we can not find them. We have reached out to support many times with no luck at all, and not even a reason as to why.

Does anyone in this community chat know why this is happening, how to stop it, and if there is a way to retrieve the missing sheets. Any suggestions are greatly appreciate, as I have gotten no where.

Thanks

Paul Newcome

Does the new owner still have access?

Genevieve P.

Thanks for the tag, @Paul Newcome!

It does sound like that's what happened.

When someone's account changes from a paid, licensed account to a free account, all items Owned by them are turned to read-only for 30 days. After those 30 days, the files are deleted, which would mean anyone who used to be shared to those sheets will no longer see them as they don't exist. Here's the documentation on switching to a free account.

Support may be able to see if the sheets are in someone's deleted folder if you provide them with the Sheet URL (if you have it bookmarked somewhere) or the exact sheet name and it's the owner that's contacting them. However if the sheet is fully deleted, they may not be able to see it at all.

Cheers,

Genevieve

Paul Newcome

Does the new owner still have access?

Dborrelli

Hi Paul, Sorry that meant to say NO. The owner can not find the sheet anymore. I also believe that the owner may have dropped down to a non paid plan during Covid and never went back. Do you know if this can cause the issue as well?

Paul Newcome

Unlicensed users cannot own items.

Has everyone checked their trash folders just in case?

@Genevieve P. Do you know what happens to an owned item when the owner downgrades without transferring ownership? I thought it just converted to read only.

Genevieve P.

Thanks for the tag, @Paul Newcome!

It does sound like that's what happened.

When someone's account changes from a paid, licensed account to a free account, all items Owned by them are turned to read-only for 30 days. After those 30 days, the files are deleted, which would mean anyone who used to be shared to those sheets will no longer see them as they don't exist. Here's the documentation on switching to a free account.

Support may be able to see if the sheets are in someone's deleted folder if you provide them with the Sheet URL (if you have it bookmarked somewhere) or the exact sheet name and it's the owner that's contacting them. However if the sheet is fully deleted, they may not be able to see it at all.

Cheers,

Genevieve

Paul Newcome

@Genevieve P. I forgot about the 30 day deletion. Thanks!

Dborrelli

Hi @Genevieve P. and @Paul Newcome this was VERY helpful!! You both literally answered my question faster than the support line did. It is also very concerning that the sheets are gone after 30 days without any notice (that I am aware of). These are very important sheets that can not be retrieved.

But I do appreciate you two for helping with this.