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Accidental changes to spreadsheet or document

Answered
Request Demo
Related to Documents Spreadsheets

Hi, can you tell me how an admin can remove accidental changes to a spreadsheet or document?  In the old days of section locking, it used to be quite straightforward to remove or share changes to unlock the section.  We have a situation whereby one user is accidentally copying incorrectly and so creating unwanted changes in our document.

Can you please give directions on how I can remove her changes?  Although we have track changes in the document, which makes rejecting a change simple, we do not have track changes in our spreadsheet.

 

Thanks

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Comments

10 comments

Date Votes
  • Official comment
    Mike Davis

    Hi everyone!

    Thank you so much for all the votes, comments, and detailed use cases you’ve shared around this request. We truly appreciate your continued feedback here.

    After another review of this request, we sadly need to move it back into an unplanned state. This is mostly due to upstream and downstream impacts in the Workiva platform. We are open to revisiting this at another time, however.

    The primary workaround here remains the method of copying and pasting from a prior revision. Note: This works for content only — links cannot be copied from a previous revision. You can supplement this by using the Linked Files Report generated from the revision where links were still intact and map out what needs to be re-linked

    We recognize this isn't the update you were hoping for, and we truly appreciate your understanding and continued feedback. If you do have any questions for us, don't hesitate to reach out!

  • Isaac Oard

    Hi Barbara you can copy/paste from the correct revision and update accordingly.
    Here is an article on this. Revisions and history in Spreadsheets – Support Center

    0
  • Barbara

    Hi Isaac, thanks but that is not to the point.  I know all the options for revealing the history in spreadsheets etc.  Specifically, I was looking for information on how an account admin (which I am) can REJECT changes made to the spreadsheet.  Not reveal or see them, or blackline them, but reject them.  

     

    Thanks.

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  • Isaac Oard

    Hi Barbara
    Please make sure track changes is turned on in your spreadsheet. If track changes are turned off, there will be no changes to reject. Here is an article

    -1
  • Andrew McKenzie
    • Edited

    On a related note, it would be nice to be able to explicitly *revert* to / restore a previous file version, as you can in (e.g.) Microsoft Office. The reasons for this are multiple:

    1. If you have a version you know is "good," it saves the time and trouble of BOTH identifying all the unwanted changes that were made to it AND actually undoing those changes.
    2. If you are using Designed Reporting (especially), there is an extra layer of complexity to #1 in both figuring out what formatting changes were made and reverting them.
    3. (Related) We all know there are times when formatting "acts up" for some reason: e.g., you can't get something aligned quite right. Especially with Designed Reporting, I'm wondering if copy-and-paste would always work to address these scenarios easily.
    4. Finally, there is simply the peace of mind that comes knowing a file has been fully reverted rather than wondering if, e.g., some change might have still been missed, or some other (unwanted) change inadvertently made at the same time.

    The new version could then be automatically captioned (in the History) area with something like "Reverted to version YYYY-MM-DD" etc., and possibly versions in between with something like "Changes removed by reversion."

    I realize there would be some complexity with Links and Connections; i.e., I wouldn't actually want to revert linked content or connections as part of reverting, only everything else. The same might apply to Comments and Track Changes. So I get that there would have to be some contingent logic for those.

    Track Changes is probably ideal in many cases to avoid this, but it doesn't work for every scenario, may not be turned on before it's "too late," or changes may have already been accepted. I also don't believe it covers all changes that may be made to a document.

    1
  • Isaac Oard

    HI Andrew McKenzie
    Thank you for your feedback here! I will get you added to an idea ticket for this feature. On that ticket, you will be updated with any updates on the feature request..

    1
  • Barbara

    Hi Issac,  turning on track changes (and of course I know how it all works) on a spreadsheet isn't always useful or preferable.  Like Andrew, reverting to a version might be the best option.  Or reverting back to the options that were available in Classic, of an admin given the option of refusing changes from a particular user.

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  • Isaac Oard

    Hi Barbara 
    Of course, I have added you to the idea ticket as well to stay updated on any updates with this feature.

    Thanks so much for your feedback!

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  • Erik Finnes

    Hi, I am just wonder if this feature about restoring a sheet is now up and running?

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  • Isabel Messore

    Hi Erik Finnes, 

    This feature request remains proposed with our product team. I can definitely add you to the request to keep you appraised of any changes!

    If others would find this beneficial, please drop a comment and I can add you as well. The more interest we have on a feature request, the higher the chance it gets picked up for work!

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