Is there a way to view previously published smartsheets?

Che Fortaleza

Is there a way to view previously published smartsheets? I am looking for a way to look back and see previous contents.

Genevieve P.

Hi Che,

Thank you for clarifying! No, Smartsheet does not keep a record of how a sheet appeared at the time of a publish link being created. This is because the same published link can be used at any time to access a view of the sheet in its current format. All updates that happen to the sheet flow through to the Published view... it's essentially just a window into the sheet, not a snapshot of the sheet in one state. Does that make sense?

The image you provided, of the Activity Log, is the way that you can see previous data. This will show you what cells were changed, what they were changed to, when this happened, and by whom. (See here for more information on the Activity Log). You can also check the cell history of any cell by right-clicking on it to see the change.

You may want to think about scheduling weekly recurring backups (see here) so that you have an exported version of the sheet at a specific time each week.

Hope that helps!

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @Che Fortaleza

If someone has provided you with a published link to a sheet, this will not show in your Smartsheet Account unless you are also shared to that specific sheet. Published Links are unique URLs that allow anyone to view the sheet by clicking on that specific link, without being shared. (See our Help Center article on this, here).

Is that what you were referring to? If I've misunderstood your question, would you mind explaining a little further? Perhaps with screen captures?

Cheers,

Genevieve

Che Fortaleza

Hello Genevieve, thank you for your response.

A good example would be a running meeting agenda-minutes smartsheet created and managed by me which I publish to attendees before the meeting as an agenda and after the meeting as minutes. Smartsheet gets updated live as cell entries are made and anytime the published link is clicked and accessed, they see the most current saved sheet. Currently, I print to PDF to keep a record of each meeting minutes. I missed to created a PDF of the meeting agenda initially and I am looking for an option to go back and look at what was published prior to the meeting.

This is the same for project schedules where dates are constantly being modified. At some point, I wonder, what was the original date and when was it changed?

What did my audience see? Here is a snapshot taken from the "view activity log" option:

So, I wonder if smartsheet keeps a record published sheets and if I have the option to view.

Does this make sense?

Thank you for your attention,

Che F.

Genevieve P.

Hi Che,

Thank you for clarifying! No, Smartsheet does not keep a record of how a sheet appeared at the time of a publish link being created. This is because the same published link can be used at any time to access a view of the sheet in its current format. All updates that happen to the sheet flow through to the Published view... it's essentially just a window into the sheet, not a snapshot of the sheet in one state. Does that make sense?

The image you provided, of the Activity Log, is the way that you can see previous data. This will show you what cells were changed, what they were changed to, when this happened, and by whom. (See here for more information on the Activity Log). You can also check the cell history of any cell by right-clicking on it to see the change.

You may want to think about scheduling weekly recurring backups (see here) so that you have an exported version of the sheet at a specific time each week.

Hope that helps!

Genevieve