Question 1: If I update these templates, what happens with any of the data that I already have in the current version of the sheet?
For example, for the Cash Flow Forecast worksheet, I have numerous entries in the Life Events section. Will these entries all be carried over to the updated version of the worksheet or do I need to manually (copy/paste) the entries into the updated version?
Question 2: What has changed from the prior version of the template to the new version? I could find any information on what has changed between the version that I have and the recommended updated version. The “Get Help” link just takes me to the template details page on the forum, but there is no changelog or information about the version of the template.
I don’t personally use Cash Flow Forecast, but I installed it and attempted a restore to see what would happen (could always try in a copy of the spreadsheet).
And it gives the standard template Restore options to Overwrite or Archive.
Archive will make a copy of your edited Cash Flow Forecast sheet, so that you can copy/paste from there into the newly restored template.
I’m not aware of a standard version changelog for templates, but if you are open to using Apps Script solutions, I have a Compare Sheets spreadsheet that I use to compare different versions of Sheets. It assumes all cells are aligned between the different sheets, so if columns or rows have been added/deleted, then you may need to mimic that change to get a compare that makes sense.
It takes 3 user inputs in green cells B1:B3 and then generates the rest after clicking the Compare button.
If there is a mismatch with a large formula and I want to automatically see the differences highlighted, instead of depending on visually finding them, I’ll use Notepad++ with the ComparePlus plugin. There’s probably other ways to accomplish this, but I’m often in Notepad++ for other stuff.
