Deleted Rows
Comments
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Still a problem :(
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I appreciate @Brad Jones staying on this topic for so many years and highlighting how vitally important it is. It is unfortunate we do not have a resolution yet.
How can we not have version history as we do on OneDrive or other cloud-based solutions? We have the ability to recover deleted sheets, but not recover previous versions of that sheet? The fact that you can irreversibly delete data from a sheet is INSANE to me.
The "solutions" so far have been to ask the user to spend more time setting up tedious redundancies, instead of fixing the actual problem. I don't see how Smartsheet can continue to develop expensive add-ons and sell their product successfully without fixing such a simple, yet glaring issues.
I love a lot of the functionality in Smartsheet but the amount of risk in storing data in this program is frankly unacceptable. It's only a matter of time before a big client is going to accidentally delete some very important data and have no way to get it back. This should be THE top priority for Smartsheet to fix, and if it can't be fixed, then I don't think the future of the company is very bright...
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Thanks Pierce. I keep beating the drum, because they need to move on this topic!!!
Skeletal backups and poorly traced easily lost data are just a bad formula, and a major QA no-no.
As it stands, 7+ years and more than 43 separate forum threads in - and fully, completely, and unequivocally aware, Smartsheet still has the behavior that if someone can edit a single cell within a row of a sheet - they can delete the entire row! And, they can delete it without even getting a pop-up message to ask them if they're sure they want to delete it! (which is funny, because if they try to unlock it they get a pop-up - but if they try to delete it, they succeed without even being questioned)
And, as if it being absurdly easy to lose data wasn’t enough of a kick in the pants, they also still don’t have a true backup option available. Meaning, if you lose a sheet/row/etc – all they can provide you with is a flat excel sheet with a pile of unlinked attachments. All cell history, formatting, links, etc are gone gone gone.
Smartsheet: PLEASE do the following:
1. (stop-gap) IMMEDIATELY Implement a pop-up message whenever someone tries to delete a row. (this is already done for the 'unlock row' feature, and should be fast and easy enough to implement for 'delete row')
-zero impact on existing user rights, identical implementation across all user levels, minimal GUI impact
AND
2a. (solution) Implement a change to the software that will allow sheet owners to prohibit deleting any row that contains a locked cell/column.
OR
2b. (solution) Implement a new user level that is "Editor - safe" where the user has all the rights of an Editor but where the 'delete row' functionality is greyed out. (There is only one permission difference between 'Editor - cannot share' and 'Editor - can share', so the precedent is there.)
OR (new)
2c. Create a 'Contributor' user level that allows a person shared to the sheet to ADD (comments, attachments, cell notes) but not to SUBTRACT(delete) anything.
Here is my ongoing (and incomplete) list of how other Smartsheet users expressing their difficulties and concerns related to the inability to both allow easy collaboration and prevent data loss:
June 2015
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/rows-being-removed
August 2015
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/revert-old-version-sheet
August 2015
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/avoid-shared-person-delete-my-row
August 2015
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/conditional-lock
August 2015
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/find-deleated-items
October 2015
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/retrieve-deleted-data
January 2016
February 2016
March 2016
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/prevent-deletion-rows-if-it-contains-locked-cells
May 2016
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/allowing-team-members-update-smartsheet
June 2016
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/prevent-deletion-rows-enhancement-request-again
June 2016
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/delete-rows-employee-avoide-tasks-completion
June 2016
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/deleted-rows-there-way-find-out-who
July 2016
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/historychange-deleted-rows
October 2016
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/block-rows-been-deleted-editor
February 2017
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/admin-deleted-bucket
March 2017
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/retrieving-lost-data
March 2017
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/viewing-deleting-rows
June 2017
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/web-form-submissions-disappearing
July 2017
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/retaining-deleted-info
September 2017
January 2018
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/17346/adding-back-in-deleted-rows
March 2018
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/overwritten-sheet#comment-67946
June 2018
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/27211/questions-from-new-user#comments
July 2018
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/28431/retrieve-deleted-sheets
July 2018
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/28546/how-to-avoid-deleting-a-row-column-in-smartsheet
August 2018
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/29791/can-a-free-collaborator-delete-a-line
November 2018
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/activity-logrows-deleted#comment-124356
December 2018
December 2018
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/37871/deleted-rows/p1
January 2019
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/39286/delete-and-lock-row
July 2019
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/52766/deleted-content-in-a-row
July 2019
December 2019
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/39376/deleting-rows-with-locked-columns
June 2020
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/68997/deleted-rows
September 2020
December 2020
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/74402/prevent-users-from-deleting-rows
May 2021
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/79783/deleted-data
June 2021
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/80835/using-automation-to-create-copy-of-deleted-rows
September 2021
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/82988/approval-workflow
May 2022
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/90947/recover-deleted-rows
May 2022
June 2022
https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/91973/how-can-i-track-deleted-rows
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Hi @Brad Jones
I hope you're well and safe!
Great idea(s)! That would be a great addition to Smartsheet features.
I hope that helps!
Be safe and have a fantastic week!
Best,
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up, Awesome, or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!
SMARTSHEET EXPERT CONSULTANT & PARTNER
Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD
W: www.workbold.com | E:andree@workbold.com | P: +46 (0) - 72 - 510 99 35
Feel free to contact me for help with Smartsheet, integrations, general workflow advice, or anything else.
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This is already something that I have submitted several times over the past 7 years.
With any luck, they will consider it.
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@Brad Jones I believe the reason Smartsheet is not making these updates is 100% revenue. If you pay for their Dynamic View add-on or their Work Apps add-on (only on the enterprise account), you will get this functionality. They wouldn't even need access to the master sheet unlike when using reports to filter the data the user sees.
Users (excluding Owners & Admin) don't have the ability to delete rows from a Dynamic View. If enabled for the users (by the Owner or Admin), users are able to add new items, attach files, add comments, and clear contents/data in a row but not delete a row.
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Please vote up!
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