Why does an Add a New Row form in a copy of a workspace add the row to the original workspace sheet?

Scott McCormick

I created a copy of a workspace so a colleague could learn by doing without worrying about breaking the operational system. I didn't change anything in the copy and then I made him an admin for the copy. He is not shared to the operational workspace.

While in the copy, he pulled up the Add a New Row form, filled it out, and submitted it. My concern is that this new row showed up in the operational sheet, not in the copy.

Is there something I need to do in the copy to prevent this?

Thanks.

Ryan Sides

@Scott McCormick No, you can simply edit the automation and have it point to the other sheet. See this video for a quick reference on how to do that... https://youtu.be/J_t1WrB-a_w

Ryan Sides

Hey @Scott McCormick double check the automations on your Workspace copy sheet associated with the form he is submitting. Check that it's not copying to a sheet (and pointing to a sheet) in your operational workspace.

Otherwise, double check that the link he's using to access the form is the link from the form itself in the Workspace copy (and he's not accessing an embedded link or a link saved somewhere that's still pointing to the operational workspace.)

Scott McCormick

Ryan,

Thanks for your response. Based on that, here is some additional information. When I made the copy, I did not change any of the sheet names, so the sheet has the same name in both versions.

He accessed the form directly from the sheet in the copy. I've looked at the form and its settings but can't see where it points to an operational sheet. In fact, I can't see where it points to anything other than listing the Form URL.

I've compared the Form URL between the two versions and they are different. Is there something else to check?

Scott

Ryan Sides

@Scott McCormick See if the sheet that the form (copy) is associated with has any automations. If it does, do any of them have a copy row that's still pointing to the original?

Scott McCormick

Ryan,

I checked on your suggestion and deactivated a number of workflows in my copy and ran another test. The new row was added to the copy and not to the operational sheet. So, that's good.

However, I don't understand why the workflows in the copy aren't only pointing to the copy. Shouldn't the workflows be exclusively working within the copy?

Thanks. Scott

Ryan Sides

Scott, I agree they should, but they don't. That's Smartsheet's standard functionality.🤪

Glad you found it though!

Scott McCormick

Ryan, this is very unexpected and unfortunate "standard functionality".

Is the workaround, after making a copy of a workspace, to remove workflows and then enter them from scratch?

Scott

Ryan Sides

@Scott McCormick No, you can simply edit the automation and have it point to the other sheet. See this video for a quick reference on how to do that... https://youtu.be/J_t1WrB-a_w

Scott McCormick

Ryan,

Thanks for your help on this. I've learned something new about how Smartsheet works.

Scott

Ryan Sides

Glad to hear it! Always happy to help if you run into other issues along the way, Scott. 😃