Help Needed: Google Sheet Data Sync Issues Causing Random Reordering, Deletion, and Swapping

Bug Reports
1

I’m experiencing an issue with my Google Sheet, which serves as my source data. During the sync process, the data gets mixed up in several ways:

  1. Random Row Reordering: Rows get reordered without any clear pattern (not alphabetically or by any other logical order).
  2. Data Deletion: The last user, Zev, keeps getting deleted for some unknown reason.
  3. Data Swapping: Occasionally, user names get swapped with others.

This is particularly problematic because I have several Zapier integrations connected to this source data.

Yesterday, I launched my platform to the public, and 400 people signed up. Managing the data became a nightmare as the issues caused significant disruptions. I had to reconfigure the setup on the fly, leading to a messy and stressful launch day.

Seeking Solutions

I’m looking for advice on how to:

  1. Prevent Auto-Sorting: Is there a way to stop Google Sheets from auto-sorting during sync?
  2. Find a Reliable Alternative: Would switching to Airtable or another platform provide more stability?

I prefer to keep my current setup if possible, as it supports advanced scripts and formulas critical to my operations. Moving to a new platform would require a substantial rebuild of my product. Any suggestions or solutions to stabilize my Google Sheet setup would be greatly appreciated.

2

Hi @joshuab

  1. For random ordering - do you observe it in users list in Softr or in the googlesheet itself the data gets re-ordered ?
    2 and 3. users getting deleted/swapped is there a short video you could demo us ?

Is this all pretty much about users list ?

Alternatives like smartsuite and airtable would be more reliable as they have better APIs to work with compared to google sheet

3

I observe all of this in the Users list on my Google Sheet

2 + 3: This happens more at random, so I don’t think I will be able to capture this on video, plus, with the swapping it’s hard to find the row to capture on video.

4

A similar problem happened to me once, and it was a nightmare. Here’s a little trick that worked for me: try breaking down your data into smaller chunks. Sometimes the size of the Google Sheet can mess with the sync, causing those weird reorderings and deletions. Also, when you use excel online, it’s often better at handling larger datasets without breaking a sweat. It’s worth a shot if you haven’t tried it yet! Hope this gives you a smoother experience with your data.