I turned on Show edit history
No. You selected the Show edit history
option to view history specific to a single cell. You didn't enable, or turn on, anything.¹
¹ Already noted in Rubén's answer
Sheets Change Logging
From the time it is created, Sheets logs document changes/edits. This continues regardless what option an Editor uses to view this history, or even if the history is never viewed at all.
This history/logging cannot be disabled at a cell, sheet, or document level.
Cell-Specific History
The addition of the Show edit history
option provided Editors an efficient way to view the document's history filtered for a specific cell and without needing to leave the document's edit mode. This option made a lot of sense in contrast to the existing alternatives and simplified the typical Editor's workflow.
For example, prior to the addition of cell-specific history, an Editor could still access that same information via the version history interface with Show changes
selected. However it required clicking through versions (logged changes grouped by date/time) to find the changes specific to that one cell.
Depending on the total number of changes, the number of changes specific to a cell, and whether the rough date/time of the changes was known, it could easily become very time consuming in the absence of a script or extension.
Additionally, the version history interface is distinct from the document editing mode. In the case where one simply wanted some cell-specific history, this approach was extremely and unnecessarily disruptive to an Editor's workflow.
Main Points
- Sheets logs changes from the time a document is created.
- There is no way to disable or delete a document's history.
- Only an Editor can view a document's history.
See version history
and Show edit history
both access the same information.
New Document = New History
Copying a source document's content to a newly created target will provide a fresh start. Both documents will include the same content but the source document's history can't be copied along with its content.
Copying a document (as opposed to its content) achieves the same result. From the list below, "Make a copy" is the best choice for most Editors however all of the listed methods create a new document without any of the original document's history:
- File > Make a copy
Copied to Google Drive in Sheets format
- File > Email > Email this file > [Choose file type]
File choices: PDF, ODS, or XLSX ³
- File > Download > [Choose file type]
File choices: XLSX, ODS, PDF, HTML,CSV, or TSV ³
³ See Table
Document |
Extension |
Microsoft Excel |
XLSX |
OpenDocument Spreadsheet |
ODS |
PDF Document |
PDF |
Web Page |
HTML (ZIP archive) |
Comma-Seperated Values |
CSV |
Tab-Seperated Values |
TSV |