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Saving, Undo and Reset

Saving​

Everything you set in Smart Matrix is saved with the report the moment you set it - there is no Save button. The visual keeps it in one text property inside the report, so it travels with the report (publishing, copying, "Save as").

What is saved:

  • the template in use
  • the formatting of rows, columns, headers, cells and the first column
  • Conditional Formatting rules, including their order and on/off state
  • number formats, column widths, renamed columns, charts and their settings
  • hidden rows and columns, closed column groups and the rows you opened
  • the options of the View tab (lines, banding, outline, spacing, icons, Layer Toggles, Financial Headers, Reading Mode, ...), the Title text, the global font and Freeze Panes
  • how rows are loaded (the strategy and Preload Rows)

Only what differs from the default is saved, and a setting you switched off again is not "off" in the saved text, it is gone: Bold on a row and Bold off again leaves no trace of that row in Copy Settings, and neither do No Fill, No Border, or a chart setting you put back to what it started on. The one exception is an "off" that still decides something - a row that is not bold in a column that is bold, a cell without the fill of its row, a header that is not bold under a template that makes headers bold. That "off" is your choice and stays, until the layer below it is not on any more. (A report saved by an older version keeps such leftovers until the next time you change its formatting; they change nothing in the table.)

Without a license, a setting of a feature that needs one is still saved, but does not apply (a second Conditional Formatting rule, a second chart column, a Total placed at the top, the look of the icons, the Title text, the Filter). It is back the moment the license is. See License.

What is not saved:

  • the current selection and open side panels
  • the license key, which belongs to the visual's License card and not to the formatting (Reset and Copy Settings leave it alone)
  • the "last used" color and border preset of the ribbon buttons and the border pen (session only)

Undo and Redo​

The Undo and Redo buttons at the top right of the visual step back and forth over your changes to the look: formatting, Design settings (lines, banding, font, spacing, ...), hidden rows and columns, the template and the rules.

  • Changes that follow each other within a moment - dragging a slider, a menu action that saves twice - count as one step.
  • A new change after an Undo ends the way forward (Redo).
  • The history is kept for up to 100 steps and starts when the report is loaded; the Default template a new visual is given is not a step.
  • Undo does not cover how rows are loaded, nor which rows or column groups are open.
  • Switching the buttons off (View tab > Display > Undo / Redo Buttons) keeps the history.
  • The buttons are greyed out when there is nothing to go back or forward to.

Reset​

Start tab > Reset removes everything you set and returns the visual to a freshly added one - after you confirm:

  • removed: template, formatting, hidden rows and columns, conditional formatting rules, Design settings, open rows and column groups (all rows close and all column groups open again),
  • kept: how rows are loaded (strategy and Preload),
  • afterwards: the Default template is active and the Formatting and Conditional Formatting panels are closed.
caution

Reset is saved at once, with the report. It counts as a change to the look, so Undo can step back over it - but which rows and column groups were open is not part of Undo and does not come back. Use Copy Settings first if you may want the old settings back.

Copy Settings​

Export tab > Copy Settings copies everything saved - template, formatting, hidden rows and columns, rules, Design settings - as JSON text to the clipboard. Use it to look at what is stored or to send it to support.