Workspace backup and restore(?)

I think the answer to this is no, but I'll ask anyway. If I backup a workspace is there any way to restore the workspace from the backup? In examining the backup zip file it seems to export only the sheet data and attachments. All structure appears to be lost and while it might be possible to reconstruct a few sheets from a backup it doesn't look like it is possible to really restore a workspace. (thanks!)

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Andrée Starå

Hi Mike,

Unfortunately, no, as far as I know, there isn't. Maybe it's possible with the Backup Tool.

https://www.smartsheet.com/apps/smartsheet-org-wide-backup

I hope this helps you!

Best,

Andrée Starå

Workflow Consultant @ Get Done Consulting

Richard Rymill SBP

We understand your problem it is a regular request.

What the back up zip provides ofcourse is a snapshot in time on a weekly basis of your workspace, which we agree.... reconstructing that from your Zip would be a Pain, although locating some data that may have been deleted from a live sheet would be easy? But reconstruction is possible if the need is sufficient?

Another alternative we use is to "save as new" your precious Workspace, call it backup xxzz 10/8/2018 and provided you unlink all your users to avoid further updates, you have a faithful copy that is a snapshot in time but potentially fully functional with minimal effort?

You will be adding to your sheet count though? You can only avoid that with single sheets by saving them as a template, which is not counted!

Maybe the best answer is a bit of all of the above?

Hopefully you now have more options?

RichardR

Mike L.

I skimmed through the backup tool documentation but it's not clear to me if you can restore from local copies or use offline in the even of some catastrophic even that destroys all your data. I'm going to kick it up to the higher ups at my institution and check with my rep. Thanks for the info!

Andrée Starå

Happy to help!

Mike L.

(update) currently using RichardR's suggestion to "save as new" to a backup folder. I can't save the workspace because it exceeds the 100 file limit. So I'm saving each folder one at a time from the workspace. I can see that this is going to be a hassle as I add more data. And I'm still bothered by not having a true backup saved in an off site location.

Richard Rymill SBP

Mike

there are a range of paid for solutions for you on this, but I guess you don't have an appetite to spend more otherwise your sheet count would be larger?

Enterprise doesn't have a limit to sheet count limit?

The suggestions you have explored are free, so if they work, brilliant. If not and your need is great enough, why not evaluate if this is a REQUIREMENT or just a Concern ? If a Requirement due to Compliance issues or other? then you need to explore paid for solutions!

If only a Concern? Evaluate that and decide is it real, or just cold water trickling down the back of your neck? We all get those warning signs, so action is probably needed?

Either way you need to feel comfortable with the conclusion?

If you would like a discussion with our Business Process mapping experts? A short one is free, if you want more, it will cost money, so a budget would be needed?

Let our team at SBP know if you want to review?

RichardR

liz_cp

Hi there, has a complete sheet backup feature been implemented since this post? We are looking for a solution where the sheet itself is backed up and can be retrieved with all attachments, comments and conditional formatting restored to it's backed up form...

Thanks

Will from Pro Backup

Hi @liz

Our team has built a non-native backup app for Smartsheet which might be exactly what you’re looking for. It offers a daily backups but also the option to restore records and sheets back to your account. Soon we want to add the option to restore whole workspaces as well.

The advantage of our app is that it doesn't clone all of your workspaces like most other backup solutions for smartsheet. You can find more info on our website: https://probackup.io/backup/smartsheet

Lindsay Whitbread

Tools like Acuworkflow are able to backup and restore individual sheets effectively, and that's important for protecting your Smartsheet data. The other element that I'd been searching around for a solution to is how to restore a fully working backup of a full solution (cross sheet references, forms, automations, reports, etc.).

From what I could tell, that's just not possible with Smartsheet.

What I ended up doing is having our developers create software that backed up as much functionality as possible, so that if we had to do a full restore it would not take as long to get everything working again. That's been pretty effective so reach out to me directly if you'd like to know more about how we were able to do that.

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