Lock a sheet to archive data

Doug Harmonson

I have a sheet in which we capture each users time on our projects. I will call it the Parent sheet. Each year do a Save As New to start the sheet fresh for the new year. This Parent sheet links to several other sheets that continually change over time. I don't need to track the changes in the linked sheets but I do want to archive each years Parent sheet. Is there a way to archive a sheet so that it keeps the existing data but essentially removes the links to the other sheets so that when we make changes to these linked sheets they don't flow into the archived sheet? Thank you for any assistance.

Paul Newcome

You could set up a copy row or move row automation. That will copy/move the static data and remove all links.

Paul Newcome

You could set up a copy row or move row automation. That will copy/move the static data and remove all links.

Andrée Starå

Hi @Doug Harmonson

I hope you're well and safe!

To add to Paul's excellent advice/answer.

You could also export the sheet to Excel/Google sheets.

Would that work/help?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

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Doug Harmonson

Thanks to you both. For our scenario, Paul's is the best approach as we want to keep in in Smartsheet for ease of reporting and access. From my perspective having the ability to do this without the trouble of creating a new sheet and an automation would be a nice feature to add.

Paul Newcome

I personally set everything up in folders. Set the main sheet up and the archive sheet and drop them into the same folder. Once you set the automation up, you can save the FOLDER as new instead of having to create a new sheet each time and just go into the automation to make sure it is pointing at the new sheet. While you still have to go into the automation each time, it is a few less steps than creating a new sheet and creating a new automation from scratch every time.

Andrée Starå

@Doug Harmonson

Happy to help!