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Deleting existing data prior to Syncing

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Is there a way to automatically delete all existing data prior to syncing a worksheet?

Each month, I have to sync multiple worksheets to spreadsheets in Wdesk. Some times, the worksheets I have to sync have fewer rows than they had the month before. This leaves fossil data in Wdesk that can screw up some of my calculations.

On the "Sync Details" page while syncing, there are two "Options" at the bottom of the page, "Use selected ranges" and "Include formulas". I was thinking you could add one more option the "Delete existing data" at this point.

As it is now, I have to go to each destination spreadsheet in Wdesk, select all columns (out to BD in most cases) and delete the data. All formulas that look for data on these destination spreadsheets are variable, that is, they don't reference a specific cell, they use "SUMIFS" or "INDEX"/"MATCH" to find the data.

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  • Mike

    Hi Bob,

    I asked some of our Workiva Sync experts for their take. Here's what I got for you.

    One workaround would be to have Sync create a new Spreadsheet each time, but that might have its own issues (such as missing linking, added clutter, etc). You could try using the XSLX Import function but it would also wipe out all links, formatting, or metadata. We also not sure if a Chain or Automation would do this either.

    There's also a request to Sync empty cells which may be what you are looking for. Let me know if I've missed the mark here or you have any follow-ups for me. Cheers!

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