How to recover data that is lost when moving from one sheet to another?

williamsons2

I have an automation set up to move a row from one sheet to another when a column is changed to Closed. It's removing data from a column when it moves to the second sheet.

Paul Newcome

Are you able to provide a screenshot for context?

williamsons2

Here you go. There was info in this column when it was on the original sheet. When it got moved, it deleted the information.

Andrée Starå

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/133819/how-to-recover-data-that-is-lost-when-moving-from-one-sheet-to-another

Hi,

I hope you're well and safe!

What column is it removing the data from? What type of column?

I hope that helps!

Be safe, and have a fantastic day!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅ Did my comment(s) help/answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community and me by marking it - Insightful 💡- Vote Up ⬆️ - Aweseome ❤️ - or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer! I appreciate it, thanks!

williamsons2

What do you mean by the type of column?

Paul Newcome

How is it populated in the source sheet? Manual entry or formula?

williamsons2

Manual entry through a form.

Paul Newcome

And when the row is moved, it brings over all of the other data except for this one column? Do you have any automations built into the target sheet? Have you reviewed cell history and / or the activity log for any clues?

williamsons2

As far as I can tell, it is carrying over all the other data from other columns. If the target sheet is the original, then yes I do have automations built into it.
I did look at the activity log but that looks like gibberish when I look at it. I can't make out what it's supposed to be b/c it doesn't show the project #'s or the company name info when I run that.

Paul Newcome

By target sheet, I mean the one that the rows are moving to. The destination that is losing the data.

williamsons2

There is not any automation set up for that one.

Paul Newcome

What about the cell history in one of the blank cells?

williamsons2

I ran a cell changes report and it's showing lines that aren't even on my sheet. I don't know if there is another way to see this info?

Genevieve P.

Hi @williamsons2

Just wanted to hop in here to hopefully help clarify - if the column name is slightly different between sheets, the second sheet (where the row is moved/copied to) will auto-create columns with the matching name to house data.

This means if this column was previously titled "CustomerName" without a space, then a space was added to Sheet 2 (but not Sheet 1), the Move Row action will create a new column on the far right.

Can you try scrolling over to the far right in your sheet? Is there a newly created column that is housing the missing information?

Thanks!
Genevieve

williamsons2

The one missing the information was copied from the original sheet. No changes were made to the column names after the copy was made. I also scrolled all the way to the right to make sure nothing was added on and it's just like the original sheet it was copied from.

Some of the rows have the customer name field that carried over but a lot of them are missing too.

Paul Newcome

For the cell history, right click on one of the cells to open the cell menu. You can select the option to view cell history there.

If there is a log of changes to the cell, we can try to see when the data went missing and investigate further from there. If there is no cell history, or the only entry says that it is blank, then it would seem the data is being removed on the source sheet before the row gets moved.