With Version History you can travel back in time to historical versions of your workbooks and restore them.
Every worksheet change, down to the individual cell level, is automatically captured and stored in a backed-up version that is quickly accessible for reviewing and restoring from as needed.
Accessing Version History
You can access a worksheet's version history by opening the document menu and navigating to File > Version History.
How to Access the Document Menu
To access the document menu,
- Open the document dropdown by clicking the arrow to the right of the document name
- Select "Menu..." from the dropdown
This will open the version history window, where you can see all past versions of the workbook and a history of who made which changes when.
Clicking on one of the precious versions listed on the right hand side of the window will show display a preview of that version. Let's select an earlier version and take a closer look at the window.
Managing Version History
1: Version Record
Think of each version as a snapshot in time; here, at the top of the window, you can see the record of the moment in time that the version was taken at.
2: Highlight Changes
Toggle the "Highlight changes" checkbox on and off to see the changes highlighted on the version snapshot below. In this example, the modified cells in columns B, C, and D are highlighted in pink.
3: Create a Named Version
The + Named version button in the top right corner allows you to create a new version with the workbook as it currently is and give a name to it for easy reference when you may need to navigate to it or recover it later.
4: Restore a selected version
You can restore a selected version using the dropdown menu next to the version name, accessible via the three dot icon.
5: Name a selected version
You can name a selected version using the dropdown menu next to the version name, accessible via the three dot icon. Giving past versions names can help you remember what changed, who changed it, or why it changed, making it easier to recover later.
6: Restore this version
The blue Restore this version button in the bottom right corner will restore the version that you are currently previewing, replacing the workbook in its current form with that version. Before you replace, Spreadsheet.com creates a backup of the current version that you can also restore back to.
Want to restore some – but not all – of the data from a previous version? Highlight your desired cells from the version history preview, copy them, and paste them into the current version of your workbook.
Once you're done in the version history window, click "Back to workbook" in the top left corner above the workbook name to return to your current workbook, where you can resume editing.
Connectivity loss detection and recovery
Collaborating with other users in real time when connections are spotty can be tricky to manage. When your internet connection becomes unavailable, you'll see a notice at the top of your browser. Spreadsheet.com will automatically reconnect and sync your workbook with the latest changes once your connection is restored.
This includes coverage for other common scenarios such as leaving a workbook open in a browser tab and coming back to it after a long period of inactivity (e.g. overnight or a weekend holiday). When returning to your workbook you will see a “Syncing workbook …” message as the workbook is brought up to date with any changes made since you were last online.
To learn more about working with workbooks, see our Introduction to Workbooks and Worksheets, or continue on to learn about exporting your Spreadsheet.com workbooks to Excel.