One of the best features offered by Google Workspace across its product suite is its edit history feature. This feature is available for Google Sheets, Google Docs, and Google Slides. The feature lets users view previous versions of the file and which can be named as well as organized by date and time.
Previously, the edit history feature was available for the entire file only. This indicates that you would not be able to undo a single change from the past version if you would not revert the changes associated with it. This was quite frustrating for all the Google Sheets users who have to work with a number of values frequently. Fortunately, Google has expanded its edit history features. This means users can now check the edit history of not only the entire spreadsheet of past versions but also of the individual cells in that spreadsheet.
This new tool certainly empowers the user with the whole edit history. From the creation of the cell to the individual edits in order, you can view them all, once you learn how to see the edit history of a cell in Google Sheets. So, if you have made some mistakes and don’t wish to lose by hitting the Undo button repeatedly, then here is a brief walkthrough to guide you in the right direction.
In Google Sheets, there are instances in which the user would come across the need to view or edit the history of a particular cell to handle a mistake. It usually happens when Google sheets are maintained by more than one person collaboratively and frequent edits happen in the sheet. Although many think that viewing and editing the history of a cell is not possible, Google sheet provides certain features to facilitate that requirement. By following several simple steps, the user or users can get hold of the previous entries or history of one or more cells in the application.
How to see the edit history of a cell in Google sheets?
Earlier, Google sheets only provided the option to view the whole history of the sheet together. This was in no way useful for people who were looking for minute edits and thus, soon Google sheets discarded the feature and updated it with the new Edit History option which let the user see the history of individual cells.
Step 1. Locate the Google sheet icon and click it open.
Step 2. Click on any particular cell whose history you would like to view.
Step 3. Right-click on the selected cell. From the drop-down menu that appears, choose the Show Edit History option.
Step 4. On clicking the Show Edit History option, a small dialogue box appears with the details of the content of the particular cell.
Step 5. You can click on the arrow icons present on the top of the dialogue box to go through every edit done on that particular cell.
Step 6. You can find the entire history of that particular cell until there is no more history available.
How to see and restore the earlier version of a sheet with the current version?
Step 1. Click open the Google sheets icon on top of the browser.
Step 2. On the menu bar, find the File option and click on it.
Step 3. From the drop-down menu, click on the Version History option.
Step 4. From the options that appear, click on the See Version History option.
Step 5. On clicking the See Version History option, a box appears on the right side of the screen containing details on the different versions of the sheet that existed before.
Step 6. You can click on any of the previous versions listed to check the status of the sheet then.
Step 7. On clicking any of the previously existed versions, an option to restore that particular version appears on the screen.
Step 8. If you click on the Restore option, a small window opens on the screen asking permission for restoring the chosen version.
Step 9. Click on the Restore option at the bottom of the permission window.
Step 10. You can find that the sheet has got updated to the chosen version.
