Best Backup options

Kegan Copas
Kegan Copas ✭✭
edited 06/14/22 in Add Ons and Integrations

Hi all,

Apologies for the blanket questions but i am looking for the best option for a Backup approach with Smartsheet.

Unfortunately i had an issue last week where i lost a master File that had dozens of reports mapped against it. Luckily i had a backup from 7 days prior but this required me to manually update 7 days worth of changes to the Master Sheet again and re-associate all reports and dashboards to this new Master!

Lesson learnt that with some of this critical data i need a more robust backup method in place ASAP.

regards

Kegan

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Answers

  • Devin Lee
    Devin Lee ✭✭✭✭✭

    Hey @Kegan Copas

    They have a built in Backup option. Go into the Browser and find your Sheet. Right-click on it and select Request Backup. Another option is to put your sheets into a workspace and set that workspace to Schedule Reoccurring Backups. It's only once a week but knowing that is happening on it's own is easier than remembering to manually go in and request the backup. No idea why they don't have that option for sheets. There is an issue with attachments this way though as they basically download them all into one zip folder which can be a huge mess if you don't label things properly. For those kind of sheets really Save as New is the only real perfect backup.

    I have talked with Smartsheet Reps about this and in some cases contacting them can be useful as they have more options than we do and can recover/revert sheets in some cases.

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  • Brad Jones
    Brad Jones ✭✭✭✭✭✭

    @Kegan Copas

    Hello Kegan,

    Unfortunately, the achillies heel of Smartsheet is their barely serviceable backup scheme.

    You can do as Devin suggested and get the weekly backups - which you totally should. This will usually allow you to recover your raw data, but lose virtually everything else in the process: cell history, formulas, links, automations, auto formatting, update requests, conversation order, etc. etc. etc.

    "Backups" exist - but understand that what you receive as a "backup" is a basic Excel spreadsheet with a flat comment list and a folder full of loose attachments with no actual link to the row they were attached to.

    "Restoring" in Smartsheet is (as you've discovered) a very manual process, where all 'rich features' must be rebuilt by the user. Copy/paste ad-infinitum. If you're quick, support can sometimes help you out, but don't expect a full recovery every time.

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