Rows being removed

Teresa Meyer

I just realized that a user removed a row from the smartsheet. So I have 2 questions.

#1 - Can I keep people from being able to remove a row - while still allowing them to edit information? or

#2 Can I set up a notification when a row is removed - so at least I would know when it happened.

Any suggestions?

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Comments

Stephanie Taylor

You can lock the row. As long as the user is an editor or viewer they can not delete or alter the row. Please note that any Admin user will be able to modify or delete the row.

Teresa Meyer

But if they need to edit data - will the row lock prevent the data from being edited?

Stephanie Taylor

Yes. You're right they will not be able to edit the row.

Just tell them to be careful! Only kidding.

Travis

You could send an update request to the user. They can view and edit only the rows you send and will not be able to delete the row. Here’s information on update requests: http://help.smartsheet.com/customer/portal/articles/504779-using-update-requests

You might also consider backing up your data in case users accidentally deletes data in the future: http://help.smartsheet.com/customer/portal/articles/506499-backing-up-your-data

David Lawson

If I have set up an alert to receive an email if anything changes, will I be contacted if a row has been deleted/removed?

Will I be able to see what was removed aswell?

How do the large companies with thousands of collaborators deal with this issue?

Thanks,

David

Travis

Hi David, yes you will get an email when rows are deleted but the email does not tell you which row was deleted.

There may be Community members who could offer suggestions for how their businesses handle deleted content.

David Lawson

Thank you Travis, I'll look into it.

Any reason why this is not a feature?

Thanks,

David

Travis

David, here is my personal opinion from a user perspective...

Row order can be changed on sheets through sorting or rearranging rows. Giving the row number of deleted rows could help tell you the section of a deleted row if row order was not changed but it could also lead to confusion about where the row came from if row order was changed.

Showing the full rows that were deleted could be useful if there are a small number of deleted rows but what if a user deleted 1000 rows? Should the email contain all 1000 rows?

Our Product team is always looking for user input on system enhancements. If you would like to give me your opinion on how you would like this to work, I would be happy to submit your suggestions to our Product team to assist them with future development scoping.

Thanks!

Floris Quant

Hi, I'm also looking for a solution to capture any unwanted deletions: if a sheet is shared with many users, and some user (accidentally) deletes a row, I would like to be able to see it (actively with a notification or passively by monitoring some log) and to be able to recover it. I can use the notifications feature to see if rows are deleted, but I would also like to see what rows are deleted. Of course I will tell people not to delete anything, but with many people involved there is always a chance it happens. Thanks.

Travis

Floris, we are exploring adding an activity feed which can give you more detailed information about the changes made on your sheets. I don’t have specifics about how this may work but I think it will likely solve some of the issues you mentioned. I will pass your feedback along to the team working on this.

Floris Quant

Great Travis, thanks!

Chris Gambrell

This seems to be a common concern/question. We'd like to be able to allow editing ability but prevent anyone from deleting a row in full. Or, if a row or sheet was deleted, how can we know what was deleted or recover it?

Travis

Hi Chris, I will submit your suggestion of preventing editors from deleting rows, to our enhancement request list. Thanks for posting!

Atus Bartal

I have the same concern. I like Cell history feature very much, because I can see any changes to any cells in a sheet, whith names and dates. I would also like to see some kind of "Sheet history" with major changes to the sheet itself. For me (and for many others, as we can see in this discussion) deleting a row is a major change to a sheet. Usual back-ups AND notifications when rows are deleted may be a solution, too.

Barry Jolly

I'm hoping the comapny is reading these, because this will probably stop us from going forward with this product.

We NEED users to be able to udate their status (Completed, Flags etc) as they could be anywhere in the country or world, without them having the ability to Delete OR Add a row when a column is locked on that row. I don't want to have to constantly check if someone has made such a change or receive emails about changes. Shouldn't be allowed.