Create and view Spreadsheet blacklines

Each time you or a collaborator edits a spreadsheet, a revision appears in the History panel. By creating a blackline, you can compare two different versions of your spreadsheet.

The table below lists what's shown and not shown in a blackline.

Create a blackline

To create a blackline in Spreadsheets:

1

Hover over a revision in the History panel and click the drop down arrow to open the menu.

2

Select Create Blackline to automatically place the selected revision in the first box.

3

Click and drag another revision into the second box. You can filter your revisions from the Show filters options at the top of the panel.

4

If you only need to compare sheets that have changes, check Only include sections with changes.

5

If you need to generate a blackline only between certain sections, click Advanced to access the Advanced Blackline Options.

6

Name your blackline and click Create.

Use the Blackline panel

Each time you create a blackline, a named copy appears in the Blacklines panel. To open the panel, click the Blacklines icon in the right toolbar.

The panel includes a detailed overview of each blackline, including when it was generated and which two revisions are compared. You can add a remark by clicking the arrow next to a blackline's title and selecting Add Remark . You can also Export your blackline as a PDF or Delete.

You can also filter blacklines in this panel. Click the filter icon and choose whether to Show Starred, filter by Updated or filter by Author. Click Reset to remove any selected filters.

View a blackline

You can open blacklines directly in Workiva to view changes and navigate between them.

To open a blackline:

1

Open the Blacklines panel.

2

Click the drop down arrow next to the title and select Open .

If you generated a blackline for your entire spreadsheet, purple lines in the outline panel let you know which sections include changes.

You can move between changes by using the Previous Change and Next Change icons in the toolbar.

To simplify your view, use the Show/Hide function to show or hide Gridlines and Non-printing characters .

Blackline changes

Blacklines contain both red and blue text formatting to show where changes were made.

A

Additions are in blue underlined text

B

Removals are in red text with a strikethrough

C

If content has been changed in a cell, the new text appears at the top of the cell in blue with the old text underneath in red

New rows and columns have a blue-highlighted heading with a blue underline, while deleted or hidden rows and columns have a red heading with a red strikethrough.

Click the Properties icon to open the Blackline Properties panel. This panel allows you to open the source document and see information about the revisions used to create the blackline.