Delete Rows using an Automation

Ian Cooper

Please create automation to delete Rows. Using the move rows automation, we are able to move records to an archive sheet. The problem then becomes we have to manually delete records from the archive sheet.

Jake Gustafson

Agreed. I like the Move Rows option to archive, but at some point it would be nice to automate deleting rows after they become 'old'. We've had situations where users inadvertently deleted way more than intended when manually going into the sheet as they didn't realize what filter was on (or off). Having the human element removed would be great. 🗑️

Paul H

@Ian Cooper @Jake Gustafson

I agree this would be a great feature.

One workaround when move row is to use a Data Shuttle replace all with a blank excel to clear the archive sheet on a set schedule.

Jake Gustafson

Are there ways for a common Smartsheet user (without any of the premium add-ons) to automate deleting select rows from an archive sheet? We archive records daily and weekly depending on the scenario, but we want to retain records for a certain period to show metrics, but after they age so much, then we want to delete them. Manually doing this requires training and trust that those users don't inadvertently delete extra rows.

I'm not skilled in the arts of APIs or something like Microsoft Power Automate to automate a practice like this. But I'm assuming someone out there has done something similar.

Paul H

@Jake Gustafson My only suggestion would be to add yet another sheet beyond your archive sheet. Use a date based move row to from you archive to the new garbage sheet. Now anyone can just delete all the data without making a mistake

urmila.kukreja

Hi! Product Manager for Automated Workflows here! Love seeing this interest in the feature, but I am surprised to see it here:) ! We do recommend setting up a Move Row automation - this way you have control over when data is deleted - you know in the case of accidentally setting a value that would fire this workflow.

But I'd love to hear if this doesn't work for your use case. Here's a link to my Calendly -https://calendly.com/urmila-kukreja/30min . I'll be grateful if you can grab some time- I'd love to hear how you use workflows and how delete row automation would help your process.

Paul H

@urmila.kukreja

While accidently deleting something is a possibility I would still want the option to do it. Give us the tools and allow us to assess the risk.

bsikes

@urmila.kukreja

Personally, I'd rather setup automation that will delete rows consistently based on the rules set, rather than depending on a person to choose the right rows when retention is past.

Chadd

I agree with many others - Need the ability to Delete rows via automation just like Move and Copy.

Ramsay Zaki

@urmila.kukreja

We have very large datasets. My archive sheets often hit the row limit if I do not delete the rows that we no longer need. Having a delete function is critical.

Ramsay Zaki

@urmila.kukreja

Additionally, it would be GREAT if you updated your API to allow us to pass Row #s to delete in the body of the API call rather than in the URL. Because of the length limitation of a URL, I can only delete around 300 rows at a time via the API. However, if I could pass all 20,000 rows in the body of the call, I could easily clear the sheet in a single call rather than having to iterate and make 60+ calls.

Ramsay Zaki

For those looking for a solution until Smartsheet gives us a better way... if you know how to use the API (via Power Automate or something). If you do not need to retain an archive at all and just need to delete, you can do this:

1. Move the Row from the Main Sheet to an Archive Sheet
2. Set up Power Automate to run an action whenever a new row is added
3. Execute the Delete row API call to delete the row that was just created in the Archive Sheet

Roland Horwood

Hi Ramsay

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/357525#Comment_357525

I use Power Automate to achieve some things that Smartsheet automation can't (my favourite is creating a sheet of the URLs to a sheet that I can reference as a table to enable users to quickly go to a sheet relevant to a project), but how do you get Power Automate to delete a row?

Any help appreciated in keeping my "Dump" sheets cleared down!

Kyle Morgan

Add me to the list of users that would love to have the ability to set up a "Delete Row" automation.

Moving rows to a trash sheet and then manually deleting them seems pretty counter-intuitive. Why set up an automation to move something that you are, ultimately, going to have to manually delete?

Ryan Sides

@Roland Horwood @Kyle Morgan I created a Smartsheet app that automatically deletes rows for you at WorkflowCreative.com Please let me know if you want to test it out. -Ryan

Jen K.

We need this feature please