One of the Sheets in my workspace keeps losing all of its data

Hello,

I have 2 sheets currently in one workspace. The first sheet works as expected, it saves my changes when I save. The second sheet, I imported an Excel file to it. I made a couple of changes and saved. When I returned to the sheet it was blank. I did this three times with the same result. If I click into the other workbook and back I have a blank sheet. My column headers and everything are gone. However, if I copy and paste the data into the sheet the data is retained, but I have to manually name the headers.

Is there a trick to getting Smartsheets to retain imported data from Excel?

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Accepted answers

Paul Newcome

Importing like that creates a new sheet. Whatever workspace or folder you have open when you go through the menus for importing will be the workspace or folder containing your imports once you refresh your browser.

If you want to bring data into an already existing sheet (such as updating existing data), you would need to copy/paste, leverage the API, or look into the premium app Data Shuttle.

All comments

Paul Newcome

Have you checked the Activity Log to see if there are any indicators there? Does the sheet name also change or does it just revert back to a blank sheet with the generic column headers?

SusanELorrain

The sheet name doesn't change, it sticks. When I look at the activity logs it doesn't show anything about the data or the saves I made. It says the sheet was renamed, it was viewed and it was shared. Nothing about data being added to cells or deleting the colums that I deleted. I see all of the activity from when I copied the cells in instead of importing. I imported before I did the original renaming of the sheet. Then I imported again each time I viewed it. At 1:55 you can see where I did the copy and paste of the data.

Andrée Starå

Hi @SusanELorrain

I hope you're well and safe!

Do you have any conditional formatting rules in the sheet, and have you checked the whole sheet so it hasn't moved or been added to the end of the sheet?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up, Awesome, or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Paul Newcome

What exactly do you mean when you say you "imported" the data in to the sheet?

SusanELorrain

No formatting. It is a download of support case data from Salesforce, exported as details only. I saved the file in a csv format and tried it right now and it did the same thing. I created a test Excel file and put a column of numbers and a column of words, imported it into a Smartsheet and it does the same thing. I've attached my test file and a video here.

https://share.vidyard.com/watch/G9UgFwCyacPXKqFai4oSsm?

test excel.xlsx

SusanELorrain

File -> Import -> Import Microsoft Excel. I created a test Excel file and put a column of numbers and a column of words, imported it into a Smartsheet and it does the same thing. I've attached my test file and a video here.

https://share.vidyard.com/watch/G9UgFwCyacPXKqFai4oSsm?

test excel.xlsx

Andrée Starå

@SusanELorrain

Now I see the issue!

When you import, it always creates a new sheet, and the one you return to is the one you had open when you started the import. You should see the imported sheets there if you check the Sheets directory or possibly the Workspace after you refresh.

Make sense?

Was that the issue?

✅Remember! Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up/Awesome or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Paul Newcome

If you want to bring data into an already existing sheet (such as updating existing data), you would need to copy/paste, leverage the API, or look into the premium app Data Shuttle.

SusanELorrain

Thank you both very much!

Paul Newcome

Happy to help. 👍️

Andrée Starå

@SusanELorrain

You're more than welcome!

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