How can I force the Google Sheets app to update to the server?

Question

I have been using the Google Sheets app a lot on my Android phone, and I have discovered that if I don't force the app to store the spreadsheet to the server, it sometimes loses updates.

This is the sequence I currently use to force the app to save to the server:

• Clicks the check mark at the end of the "fx" input box.
• Click the check mark at top left.
• Click the "<" mark at top left.
• Click on the spreadsheet again, and scroll back to the desired position. That's a lot of steps for something that happens automatically after just a few seconds in the browser version, and pretty annoying (though not as annoying as losing data).

So, the question: How can I more expeditiously force the Google Sheets app to update to the server?

Answer 1

In 2014, when I originally asked the question, the multi-step procedure described in the question was necessary.

In 2015, an app update made it update automatically, as long as a net connection was available. So the simplest answer is to update the app to a version from 2015 or later.

The risk of data loss appears to persist (as of 2023) in the event that a spreadsheet is edited off-line when net access is unavailable, if the app shuts down (such as from contention for memory with other apps, or forced shutdown).

That Sheets behavior is different from the Google Docs app, which appears to store changes in local storage until a net connection is reestablished. Docs may still misbehave in the event of conflicting edits, but that's unavoidable.