How to back up Smartsheet (and restore deleted data)

In short: To back up Smartsheet, connect ProBackup to your smartsheet.com account via OAuth, choose the workspaces to protect, and the first snapshot runs within 24 hours. Sheets, rows, attachments and conversations are then copied daily to independent AWS storage. Deleted rows, sheets and comments can be restored back into Smartsheet as new copies from any snapshot.

ProBackup is a SaaS backup service that takes automated daily snapshots of your cloud app data and lets you restore individual records, files or whole projects back to the original account. For Smartsheet, that means a dated copy of every sheet you can restore from, long after Smartsheet's own 30-day window has closed.

Why Smartsheet's Deleted Items and weekly backups are not enough

Smartsheet ships three native safety nets. Each covers a narrow case (all checked 2026-09-16):

Read that last row twice. Smartsheet's own backup is a weekly zip of sheet data, comments and attachments, with no way to restore it and a hard 4 GB cap. A row deleted on Tuesday from a sheet whose last backup ran on Sunday is simply not in any file, and if the sheet owner deleted it, the Activity Log will tell you exactly when it disappeared and nothing more.

How to back up Smartsheet with ProBackup (step by step)

Setup takes about three minutes.

1. Create your ProBackup account. Go to app.probackup.io/onboarding. The 7-day trial needs no credit card. Choose the AWS region for your snapshots; nine regions are available and you pick at signup (changing it after the first backup requires support assistance).
2. Connect Smartsheet via OAuth. Select Smartsheet from the platform list and authorise ProBackup. Only smartsheet.com accounts are supported; accounts on smartsheet.eu (the EU instance) are not, due to technical limitations. ProBackup never sees your password; tokens are stored encrypted with AES-256.
3. Choose the scope. Select the workspaces and folders to include. [verify: exact scope-picker behaviour for Smartsheet in the current app]
4. Wait for the first snapshot. It starts automatically and finishes within 24 hours, then repeats every 24 hours with nothing to schedule.
5. Browse the vault. Open any snapshot to see each sheet as a table, with its rows, attachments and conversations as of that date.

Snapshots sit in AWS S3 with AES-256 encryption at rest and TLS in transit. ProBackup has been SOC 2 Type II certified since May 2025 and is GDPR compliant.

What is (and is not) backed up for Smartsheet

ProBackup backs up all data the Smartsheet API exposes within its scope:

• Workspaces
• Folders
• Sheets
• Rows (cell values)
• Attachments
• Conversations (comments)

Not backed up today:

• Proofs
• Reminders
• Automations
• Dashboards
• Forms
• Reports

These are not available through Smartsheet's API; ProBackup will add them as soon as they become available. Note that Smartsheet's own weekly backup excludes most of the same items, so nothing today protects your automation workflows or dashboards other than documenting them.

Version history depends on your plan: Plus keeps 6 months of snapshots, Pro keeps 2 years and Premium keeps an unlimited history.

How to restore deleted Smartsheet rows, sheets and comments

This is where ProBackup differs from a zip file. From any daily snapshot you can restore three item types straight back into Smartsheet:

• A row. A duplicate is created in the existing sheet, with its field values, attachments and conversations.
• A sheet. A duplicate is created in the workspace, including its rows, field values, attachments and conversations.
• A comment. A duplicate is created in the related row or sheet.

Restores for Smartsheet create new copies; they never overwrite live data, so a restore can always be reviewed and removed if it turns out to be unnecessary. [verify: the landing page also advertises field-level overwrite for Smartsheet; the support article documents duplicates only]

Sheet-level restore has known limits, and it is better to know them before you need them. When you restore a whole sheet:

• Files are not restored
• Column order may not match the original
• Locked rows and columns are not restored
• Row formatting is not restored
• Cell formulas are not restored

For a sheet with heavy formulas, the practical workflow is: restore the sheet to recover the data, then re-apply formulas from your sheet template or from the ProBackup export of the original.

To run a restore: open the backup, pick the snapshot date, locate the row, sheet or comment, and click Restore. The item appears in Smartsheet within the same workspace or sheet it came from.

FAQ

How long does Smartsheet keep a deleted sheet?

Thirty days, in Deleted Items in the Browse panel, and only the sheet owner can undelete it (help.smartsheet.com, checked 2026-09-16). After that the sheet is permanently deleted. Deleted rows have no undelete at all; the Activity Log on Business and Enterprise plans records the deletion, but restoring values is manual.

Does ProBackup back up Smartsheet formulas and reports?

Rows are backed up with their cell values, but when a whole sheet is restored, cell formulas, formatting and locked rows are not recreated. Reports, dashboards, forms, automations, proofs and reminders are not exposed by Smartsheet's API and are outside the backup scope.

Does ProBackup work with smartsheet.eu?

No. Only smartsheet.com accounts are supported; the EU instance is not, due to technical limitations. Snapshots themselves can be stored in any of nine AWS regions, including EU regions, chosen at signup. Plans start at $25 per month, billed yearly.

Start backing up Smartsheet today

Connect Smartsheet in three minutes and get your first snapshot within 24 hours. No credit card, no weekly zip to babysit, and a restore button for deleted rows, sheets and comments.

Start your free 7-day trial