HELP!! Many of my sheets systematically updated to show a "Last Update" date of 8/29/23

Ami Veltrie

All of my oldest (not touched/updated in a long time) sheets in all Workspaces, all of a sudden show a "Last Update" date of 8/29/23. It's as though some backend process ran to update everything that hadn't been touched in a while.

There is NO way all these sheets were updated on the same day, most haven't been updated in years.

Does anyone know how or why this would happen?

Example of first sheet in list above, and the last actual change that was made:

Paul Newcome

It looks like someone opened the sheet. Are there any formulas, conditional formatting, or automations?

Ami Veltrie

@Paul Newcome

Hi Paul! No, the view from today was just me checking the activity log. The red outline shows the last actual change to the sheet (2017).

The sheets in question are all super old and never get touched anymore. Most are slated for deletion.

ker9

I have the same issue and they were not updated by user, DataMesh, or any other process done by our company.

Paul Newcome

I haven't checked every single one of my workspaces, but I didn't see it in any of the ones I did check. I would suggest reaching out to Support if it is causing an issue.

@ker9 Is yours the same date as well?

ker9

@Paul Newcome - yes same date, 8/29 - Enterprise version

ker9

@Genevieve P. - do we need to open a ticket to find out why so many (very many) sheets were updated on 8/29?

Paul Newcome

@ker9 Thanks for confirming. I have clients on Enterprise, Business, and Advanced accounts, and none of them have noticed this behavior.

Genevieve P.

Hey @ker9 & @Ami Veltrie

Thanks for the tag! It looks like all of your data is still correct, it's just the date showing in the folder that has changed.

I'm not seeing this in my account, so yes, please do open a support ticket if you've made no changes. They'll need the following information to troubleshoot fully:

• Screenshot of the workspace (like above)
• Screenshot of an example sheet & activity log
• URLs of a few example sheets that are shown in the screen captures above
• Does the sheet have formula or cell links?
• Have you encountered the same behavior in other workspaces? 
• Workspace names and/or screen recording if possible

Thanks!

Genevieve

ker9

@Genevieve P. - We have a situation where it appears file attachments are gone and it seems to have happened around the same timeframe. Is there a limit to how long a file can be retained/attached to a sheet?

ker9

I started a ticket - no formulas, no cell links, no references, no DataMesh, clean empty sheets that no one should have touched. Activity logs show nothing since April on one example and July on another.

ker9

Hi @Ami Veltrie - wondering if you found out anything that you can share? In addition to this problem, we cannot get a user sheet access list to download (I have a ticket in for that) and we seem to have missing attachments on some sheets and the activity log shows nothing but views in prior weeks. (@Paul Newcome fyi)

Genevieve P.

Hey @ker9

I don't believe there's a timeframe for housing attachments; as long as the sheet is still active then the attachments will be there (unless they're intentionally removed/deleted). I personally have some sheets with attachments from 2019 still available.

One element that may impact attachments is the Admin Security setting for your organization. System Admins on Business and Enterprise plans can allow or block different sources for attachments, see:

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/2482070-admin-center-manage-security-and-controls#toc-content-chat-controls

In regards to the Sheet Access Report, this is a separate issue that was reported earlier this week and has now been resolved! Please try again today.

Cheers,

Genevieve

ker9

@Genevieve P. - Thanks you for the attachment info. I thought that was the case on timing but I couldn't seem to find anything definitive.

Sheet access report has, unfortunately, not been resolved. I ran it this morning and while it seems all the rows are there, none of the owners are listed in the Owner column. I reported this.

I have an open ticket regarding the 8/29 Last Update. Based on the Sheet Access report I looked at this morning, the Last Update date of 8/29 is visible in the workspace but not on the access report. This was also reported this morning.

Thank you for responding, it is much appreciated!

ETA: I believe our missing attachments were operator error - they expected attachments but I spent the entire day yesterday researching that issue and no attachments were missing. They still swear they were gone on Friday 9/1 but when I looked yesterday, 9/6, nothing was gone. So I don't know what really happened but everything appears to be ok on that problem.

Ami Veltrie

Hi @ker9!

I submitted a ticket as well. They seem to acknowledge confirm the issue ie. no changes to the sheet (outlined below) but they are asking for more information. I'm responding to the ticket now.

ker9

Hi @Ami Veltrie

Thank you for responding and submitting a ticket. I spent a lot of time providing information and the last piece I received from them was this:

The "Last Update" timestamp in a Smartsheet workspace is typically designed to reflect the most recent change made within the workspace itself. This can include changes to the workspace's settings, properties, or shared resources. However, it does not necessarily correspond to changes made within individual sheets that are part of the workspace.

None of the responses were helpful and it was very time consuming. I still don't know what might have happened to a multitude of workspaces that would cause this. I'm very frustrated with SS right now.

Good luck!