Historical Data and System generated Created (Date)

BobLonely

Hi Smartsheet Community..!

I created a Smartsheet Tracking sheet to capture Tasks and classify them by Task Type and I have a Field for each Task that captures the [Date of Request] using the Auto-Number --> Created (Date) system setting. I plan to use the [Date of Request] in downstream reporting via Power BI or Tableau to calculate the Client FY and QTR from external tables already in use.

I have a workflow that moves Closed tasks from the Theatre specific Sheets to an Archive Sheet and have found that the Moved Rows retain their original Time and Date perfectly well.

I now want to transfer, perhaps 36months of Historical Tasks from an Excel Tracker we have used previously, The historical data will obviously not be controlled by a similar system field.. is there a way to work around the issue that new rows added to my Tracker will all have the same date and time and void the nature of the Historical data..? Currently, when I copy & paste the data in, a Task from 36months ago updates with the current date and time..

Do I have to revert back from an Auto-Number field to a Standard Date Field and rely upon manual data entry..?

I run a vanilla Smartsheet and have no access to APIs, Integrations or Add-Ons.. Any suggestions, very much appreciated..

BullandKhmer

Hi Bob,

You could add a new column and run an automation = When rows are added - record a date in (new column). You could then transfer all your existing timestamps in excel and Smartsheet into the new column.

Hope that helps.

AJ.