Track and View Sheet Activity

Activate Highlight Changes

1. Open the sheet and select Highlight Changes  Brandfolder Image on the toolbar.
2. Move the slider to ON.

Brandfolder Image

1. Under Highlight changes in the last, select a time interval.
   
   If you enable the I last viewed this sheet option, you'll see highlighted changes since you last viewed the sheet—anyone else who views the sheet will see changes since they last viewed it.
2. Select Background Color  Brandfolder Image  to set the highlight color.
3. Select the X in the upper-right corner of the window to close it and save your settings.

Who sees the highlighting

If you turn Highlight Changes on or off and save the sheet, you turn it on or off for everyone shared to the sheet.

If someone has added a comment or added or edited attachments in the specified time period, the icon in that row is highlighted. Changes to the comments are not highlighted.

To review details about the change, including the time the change was made and the email address of the person who made it, right-click on the cell and select View Cell History.

You can set up Notifications to receive email alerts when changes are made to a sheet. Learn more about notifications.

Highlight changes settings

Highlight Changes has eight settings. The settings refresh down to the minute when accessing a sheet. The table below outlines what changes will be highlighted when viewed on 12/12/20 at 6:00 PM.

Cell history

Right-click a cell and select View Cell History to see a log of changes made on the cell level, who made the changes, and when they were made. You can copy information from the View Cell History popup and paste it back into the cell as needed. 

System columns

Create Modified (Date) and Modified By columns to show the time each row was last edited and the collaborator who changed each row in the sheet. For more information, see Column Type Reference.

Activity log

To see the Activity log, you must be a paid user in a Business or Enterprise plan.

Select the Activity Log icon in the right feature bar to see a list of all changes made to an item, who made them, and when they were made. This includes changes such as row deletion (with deleted data), who has viewed the item, and sharing permission changes. 

You can filter and export the Activity Log. Learn more in Track the History of Changes with Activity Log.

What you can track in the activity log

Use the activity log to track common actions:

• Who viewed the sheet, report, or dashboard
• Who’s been shared to or unshared from a sheet, report, or dashboard
• For sheets only: the type of changes made and the details. For example, On Row 4, Sally Smart changed the Status from In Progress to Complete
• The name of who made the change
• The time and date the changes were made
• Workspace sharing

Things to know about the activity log

• The activity log shows the most recent cell changes. Right-click and select View Cell History to view a particular cell's history.
• When you close the activity log, your filters are cleared automatically. You can't save or share activity log filters on the sheet.
• Some actions can't be traced back to a Smartsheet username. For example, if you access Smartsheet by clicking on an attachment without logging in, Smartsheet tracks and records the activity, but the log entry will display the username download@smartsheet.com. 
• Activity logs in reports don’t provide details of the changes made. If you need to track cell or row changes in a report, go to its source sheet. 

Who can view the activity log

*Only the owner can see the sheet's creation activity. However, if you transfer ownership of a sheet, the new owner will see all the activity logs from when the sheet was created.

**Dashboards don't have an Editor sharing permission level. Only Admins and the Owner can view the activity log for dashboards.

Owners, Admins, and Editors must be paid users to view and export the activity log.

View activity log entries

There are two ways to open the activity log dialog:

1. Open the activity log dialog via the menu bar
   • In the menu bar, select File > View activity log.

Or,

2. Open the activity log dialog via the right bar
   • In the right-hand bar, select the activity log icon.

Sheet changes influenced by APIs

Some organizations create or use custom workspaces that leverage the Smartsheet Application Programming Interface (API). An example is the Smartsheet Pivot App. If the API influences the items in a sheet, you'll see the API—Integrated App image next to the date column.

Filter activity log entries

The View activity log dialog displays sheet actions, such as who deleted rows and when a user viewed the sheet. By default, the report in the activity log dialog shows the events for the last seven days.

Use filters in the activity log to see only the entries you want. For example, you can apply a filter that shows the activity for a specific date range, a specific type of action, or the specific people who have been active on the sheet.

Apply filters to the activity log

1. In the activity log dialog, expand the Filters section. 
2. Select any of the following:
   • Action: Filter the activity log by the type of activity
   • Collaborators: Who performed the activity
   • Date Range: The group of dates that you want to view the activity of
3. Select Apply.

If you need to clear the filters, select Clear Filters.

Export the activity log

You can download the activity log for the item to keep an additional record of sheet activity. Each download is limited to 90 days of sheet activity data.

To export an activity log

1. In the menu bar of a sheet or report, select File > View activity log.
2. Select a start date and end date in the Date Range section. 
3. Optional: In the Action and Collaborators filters, select additional options.
4. Select Download.
   
   Smartsheet emails a link to the file to the address associated with your Smartsheet account. 
    
5. Select the link in the email message to download the activity log.

If a sheet name contains a unique character, you may need to remove the characters from the file name when you export the activity log's CSV. Certain symbols, such as | (pipe) or * (asterisk), cause the file to appear corrupted when opening.

When should you expect the exported file?

The time it takes for Smartsheet to generate the file and send you the download link varies. Once you select Download, you should receive a message with the link to the file within the next business day.

Request a snapshot of the sheet

If you're a sheet Owner or Admin, you can request a snapshot of your sheet's cell or column changes.

To request a snapshot of the sheet change(s)

1. Open the sheet's activity log dialog. 
2. Adjust the start and end dates in the Date Range section as needed.
3. Navigate to the specific change, expand that row, and select Request Snapshot. 

Smartsheet emails the snapshot to the sheet owner in an Excel file. The file contains sheet data, a summary, and comments only. Conditional formatting, attachments, notifications, cell history, and any formulas incompatible with Excel (column formulas, @row, @cell, cross-sheet formulas, etc.) aren't supported.

You can only submit one snapshot request on any given sheet. Once the first request is complete, you can file an additional request.

Card-view-related actions in the activity log

Some actions listed in the activity log dialog describe an overall change but don't provide context on the details of that change. Below are a few actions you might see and what they mean:

• Card View: Cards Reordered: You've manually dragged one or more cards from one position to another, either to a different lane or a different position in the same lane.
• Card View: Cards Reordered Indirectly: Cards have been moved by any other means. For example, when you manually drag one card to any position in the same or a different lane, other cards are indirectly moved to higher or lower positions. Cards can also be reordered indirectly when you make changes in the Grid View and Gantt View, such as assigning a task to a different person or changing the list option for a row.