Tips and Tricks: Find "Missing" Data in Google Sheets

Did you know Google Sheets has two types of filters, and mixing them up can cause serious confusion?

  • Filters (default) are public and affect everyone. When a filter is applied, data is hidden for all users across all browser sessions until the filter is removed.
  • Filter Views are private and only visible to the current user.

If data seems to be missing in a shared Google Sheet, always check if a “Filter” is applied!

:link: Filter without affecting others
:link: Google Sheets Filter Views

Now, for a mildly amusing story:

While working on some data management tasks, a review in a Google Spreadsheet revealed that important information seemed to be missing. Certain that the data had been present before, a frantic effort began to manually recreate the missing records. Fortunately, a quick check in Google Sheets History confirmed that the data was still there—so no real harm done.

But why had so many records seemingly disappeared? Well, as it turned out, a regular filter had been applied… :sweat_smile: Simply turning it off restored everything.

Lesson learned: If data “vanishes” in a shared Google Sheet, don’t panic—check both Filters and Filter Views first!