"SAVE AS NEW"

ErnestVASA

I have a folder containing multiple sheets (17 total), which refer to sheets within that folder, as well as sheets outside the folder. I need to duplicate this folder multiple times, each referencing a different branch, however, it fails to copy/incude the cell link references at times. This is random, and 1 out of 5 attempts to duplicate works perfectly, and I then need to delete the folders that did not include the links. Please help? I have tried every conceivable way to do this and nothing seems to work consistently, or reliably.

jmyzk_cloudsmart_jp

Hi @ErnestVASA

When duplicating a folder in Smartsheet, the cell link behavior depends on whether the referenced sheets are inside or outside the folder. The challenge arises in maintaining consistent cell link relationships when duplicating folders containing internal and external sheet references. To address this issue, you can consider the following approach and reference:

Copying Folder Structure - Folder-in-a-Folder Approach:
Organize your sheets into a hierarchical folder structure.
Place all sheets that need to maintain cell link relationships into a "bottom-level" folder within a "top-level" folder.
Any references between the top- and bottom-level sheets will adapt to the newly created copies if the top-level folder is copied.
This top-level folder copy will also copy the secondary-level folders. And, if you select the "Newly Created Sheet Options', the cell linking between the secondary level folder's sheet will remain.'

Reference on folder copy options

When duplicating a folder in Smartsheet, the cell link behavior depends on whether the referenced sheets are inside or outside the folder.

As written in the help article, when you copy a folder, Smartsheet allows you to choose how cell links, cross-sheet references, and reports behave:

• Newly Created Sheets Option:
  • Links between sheets inside the folder will be remapped to reference the newly copied sheets within the same folder.
  • Links to external sheets (outside the folder) remain pointing to the original sheets, and these links must be manually adjusted if needed.
• Original Sheets Option:
  • Links between sheets inside the folder and links to external sheets will remain pointing to the original sheets.

Choose whether reports, dashboards, sheet links, and cell links will refer to either of these options:
Newly created sheets: When copying interlinked items within the same folder or workspace, this option will remap links to reference the newly created copies. Links to items outside of the copied folder or workspace will remain linked to the outside item, and you may need to remove them manually.
Original sheets: Newly created items will continue to link to the same sheet as the original item.

https://help.smartsheet.com/articles/1782802-copying-folders-workspaces

Example

In the folder image below, the "Smartsheet Folder Copying: Cell Links Issue - Top" folder has subfolders, one created with the "Newly created sheets" option and one with the "Original sheets:" option.

When I copied this top folder, the sub-folders maintained the above options, thus maintaining the sheet's cell-link structure between the folders.