Freeze data displayed in dashboard or sheet

Corentin Dal Farra

Hello everyone,

Do you know if there is a way to freeze data that is displayed in a dashboard so that we can compare to previous week or previous month for example ?

If not do you know if we can make a copy of the sheets with the data ? I know that there is an cell history funcitonnality and an activity log, but I am not sure theses features can be used to get a copy of a sheet or a dashboard at a given moment.

Thank you very much for your help,

Corentin

David Tutwiler

You could save the sheet as "Sheet Name XX Date" and that would preserve the data as an archive.

I think you could also set the sheet up on a Schedule to Send Sheet as an attachment and from there you could use Data Uploader to maintain an archive of your data.

I don't think there is a way to do those things with a dashboard, since it is just reading data from underlying sources. I think you would need to archive the sources and maybe add the archived views to your dashboard for comparison.

Corentin Dal Farra

Hello @David Tutwiler

Thank you for your answer !

So if I understand well, there is no "easy way" to get historic of data each month or week. I would like to avoid manual manipulations as much as possible.

Maybe I was thinking of an API development that could :

• Based on a period (each month for example) create a copy of my sheet data (copy row action) at this time in a folder
• This folder would contain a blank sheet per month updated regularly, and all these sheets could be already linked to a master dashboard that shows all the data I need and is updated each month.

My only fear is that I am not sure a solution like this is viable and it could represent a huge investment in time and money.

Andrée Starå

Hi @Corentin Dal Farra

The third-party service, Zapier, could also be an excellent option for this scenario.

Is that an option for you?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Corentin Dal Farra

Hello @Andrée Starå

Do you have some examples of how I could manage Zapier to make this use case ?

I never used Zapier and I am a bit lost to create automation from scratch but maybe you did something similar that could be of a great help.

Thank you ! Have a nice day,

Corentin

Andrée Starå

@Corentin Dal Farra

Happy to help!

Unfortunately, I don't have an example to share of that scenario.

If I have time, I'll test and let you know if it works.

David Tutwiler

@Corentin Dal Farra you could set up an API to do just what you're talking about, but it would be labor intensive.

What @Andrée Starå mentioned will work, but it will take what I talked about in sending your sheet as an attachment in an email, then using Zapier to save it to a cloud resource, then Data Uploader to get it back into a sheet.

There is no direct way to do what you're talking about. The sheets are designed to be "live" and update as data is changed. Outside of what has been suggested here I know of no other way to compare vs archived data.

Corentin Dal Farra

@David Tutwiler thanks for the update,

I will have no other choice but to go on an API dev, Zapier integration or maybe Bridge (I am waiting for Engage 2020 to see more about this solution).

Thank you anyway for the solutions you suggested, if my client is okay for some manuals manipulations it could work.

Have a great day,

Corentin

David Tutwiler

@Corentin Dal Farra I am very excited about the possibilities of Bridge and what you can do with all the open API calls. It might be the future for something like this, but I don't know enough about it to say one way or another.

Good luck!