Archiving Workspaces

Have I overlooked any Smartsheet options to archive workspaces?

We have a number of old workspaces that we need to retain access to, but they tend to clog the full Workspace list. I use underscores and "-DNU…" for "Do Not Use" workspaces, and the normal ones have regular names without special characters.

What would be ideal is to have a third section besides "Sheets" or "Workspaces" called "Archive" where we could offload these workspaces while leaving them intact as their original workspace.

An archive section like this would also be helpful for the Smartsheet Engage 2025 workspaces or other Sample workspaces I've accrued as learning or training aids. They're a great way to showcase functionality to new hires who may not have permissions to view the data in the other workspaces I manage.

If anyone's got a solution besides renaming things, please let me know!

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Accepted answers

Paul Newcome

File groupings can be maintained by selecting everythig that is in the main section of the workspace and moving it all into the same folder at the same time, and you can name the folder you drop it all into the same as the workspace.

Carolyn Stone

Hi, The way we have gotten around this is to have one Master Archive workspace that is restricted to only a few people. When we want to archive a workspace Example: 'Workspace ABC', I create a new folder in the Master Archive workspace titled the name of the workspace to be archived ('Workspace ABC'). Then I copy the entire contents of the file folder directories in the workspace, including all nested folders into this new folder in the Master Workspace. Then delete the empty workspace. This allows preservation of the files and file folder structure, while making it disappear from most people's view. If we need to get at it in the future we have either given permissions to the person who needs to see old data, or moved it back out into it's own labelled workspace depending on the needs.

The Master Archive workspace gets large, but the workspaces are all clearly labelled whatever they were in the past, and you can exclude the Master Archive from searches if needed, and limit to only people who need to see the older items.

All comments

Michael Ayres

You can create a Workspace folders within Workspace Prod, Dev and Test, and Closed and use the closed as your archive. much better control of your reporting access and environments. hope that helps!

S.Stone

Can you explain more? How do I nest workspaces in workspaces?

Paul Newcome

If you create an "Archive" workspace, you can drop everything currently in "Workspace A" into a single folder, then click and drag that folder to the "Archive" workspace.

Granted… This doesn't maintain any sharing levels specific to the original workspace, but it does keep everything together and allows you to delete the now empty original workspace.

S.Stone

So it sounds like the only option to archive 12-15 workspaces is to put them into a single workspace.

Unfortunately, we wanted things to retain their original workspace names and file groupings… but it sounds like the only real option is to turn all workspace content into separate folders, and then move all of the folders into a single new Archive workspace.

Paul Newcome

Carolyn Stone

Shanett Cole

We created a "Completed" Workspace. Then created Folders to house all the data… As mentioned above - We move everything from the original workspace into the newly created folder under Completed workspace

abbyc.hg

I don't have a good solution but commenting to agree that the lack of an archive function is problematic.

Yasar_6

Hi, The usual workaround is to move old workspaces into a separate folder structure or prefix them (like you’re doing), or create a dedicated “Archive' workspace and move inactive items there..

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