Date reverts to value PREVIOUS to last save when new date value entered

Jared Heintz

Hello, Smartsheet!

Longtime listener, first-time caller ...

I have a Target Release column (Date), and the range of date values is vast. Because of date field requirements in a legacy system, we use values far off in the future to indicate "N/A" when a date value was required (e.g., 01/19/2405, 12/01/2999). These records were brought into Smartsheet. For sheet rows with these far-out Target Release values, we are having trouble with updating them with a new date (e.g., 03/27/2021). We can delete the current value (12/01/2999), leave blank, and save the sheet (or update with "N/A" in the date field). However, when we try to update the Target with a date value after the save, the field reverts back to the far-out date that existed PRIOR to the last save of the sheet. It's actually the first time I've seen this behavior of reverting beyond the "undo" reset saves cause.

So, is there something we can do to 1, update these values without having them revert, or 2, should we export these rows, manually update the values in the export, and paste them back in as new rows without far-out values? Also, should we stop the practice of using far-out dates moving forward to avoid this issue completely?

One other note: There cross-sheet references to to our Target Release field, but no formulas or calculations exist in the field now.

Thanks for your time,

Jared

Genevieve P.

Hi @Jared Heintz

This is definitely unexpected behaviour I tried to replicate what you're seeing with the dates reverting but I can't - my sheet will update to the correct year and doesn't change back to the historical information.

At this point I would suggest contacting our Support team so that they can look into this with you in a private channel where you can share more information. It would be helpful for them to see a screen recording, if possible, and to know if this happens on other sheets or just this one sheet (and what the name of this sheet is).

Thank you!

Genevieve

Genevieve P.

Hi @Jared Heintz

This is definitely unexpected behaviour I tried to replicate what you're seeing with the dates reverting but I can't - my sheet will update to the correct year and doesn't change back to the historical information.

At this point I would suggest contacting our Support team so that they can look into this with you in a private channel where you can share more information. It would be helpful for them to see a screen recording, if possible, and to know if this happens on other sheets or just this one sheet (and what the name of this sheet is).

Thank you!

Genevieve

Jared Heintz

Thanks, @Genevieve P. I had a feeling this one was "special"; I appreciate the try here, and I will contact Support now with that additional info.

Jared

Jared Heintz

Funny story, @Genevieve P: I had predecessors enabled on this sheet (for a silly reason that was not required), and by removing the setting, the issue is no more. Thanks a bunch to you and your Support team!😎

Genevieve P.

Aha! Glad you figured it out, and thanks for letting me know! 🙂