Smartsheet Auto-Saving on View – Impacting "Modified Date" Integrity

MTC2025

Hi,

I've noticed that Smartsheet is auto-saving records even when I simply view the sheet. This has happened several times, and I’ve tested turning off the Auto-Save setting, but the issue persists. I’ve attached a screenshot for reference.

The field being auto-updated is the system-generated "Modified" column. This behavior risks compromising the integrity of our backend data, as the Modified date/time can no longer be reliably used as a source of truth if it continues to change without actual edits.

Has anyone else experienced this issue? Any insights or suggestions would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks,

May

kowal

hi @MTC2025,

Yes smartsheet is autosaving sheets even in viewing mode.

You can set it up in Personal Settings how often you want to save it…

MTC2025

Thank you Kowal for the suggestion!

We’ve updated the Auto-Save settings (screenshot below), but we’re still seeing the "Modified Date" system column auto-update across thousands of records just by opening the sheet for viewing. Unfortunately, this continues to cause significant performance issues and loading delays, which is impacting our ability to efficiently perform operations and updates within Smartsheet.

Is there any other way to prevent Smartsheet from auto-saving data when the sheet is accessed in view-only mode? Any guidance or workaround to stop these unintended updates would be greatly appreciated.

Thanks in advance for your assistance.

kowal

hi @MTC2025,

so if just opening a sheet make some impact on it would you consider creating report out of the sheet and opening Report or Dynamic View? I guess in both of those situations it will not keep any info in Modified Date.

actually it's pretty weird to read that only opening sheet for viewing would make changes in Modified Date… this cell is only changing if there is change in this row. I am 100% sure.

MTC2025

Hi @kowal ,

Thanks for your insight. I totally agree with you that by right only if there is a change on the particular row, the cell should be updated but now modified date on thousands of records were auto-updated (screenshot shared on my first post).

Pls let me know if there is any alternative way to troubleshooting this auto save issue and find the root cause so that we can prevent any performance related issue in the near future.

kowal

hi @MTC2025,

did you try to create report and open the report only seeing if it will impact the modified date on the sheet?