Scope conversion

What happens to your data when you convert a category between per-project and per-unit.

You can change a category's scope on any project at any time. The two directions behave differently, one is non-destructive, the other deletes data. Read both before you commit.

Per-project → per-unit (safe)

When you convert a category from per-project to per-unit:

The original shared sheet's items are cloned into every unit. Nothing is lost.
Each unit ends up with an identical starting copy.
You can then edit each unit's sheet independently.

Convert to per-unit dialog — "This creates N independent sheets, one per unit. Existing items are cloned into every unit, so nothing is lost."

This is the safe direction. The only consequence is you may end up with N copies of items that you'd rather have differentiated, that's fine, edit them down per unit.

Per-unit → per-project (destructive)

When you convert a category from per-unit to per-project, the workspace must collapse N separate sheets back to one. It does that by:

Asking you to pick a source unit.
Promoting that unit's sheet to be the new project-wide sheet.
Permanently deleting every other unit's items for that category.

Convert to per-project warning — "Items in the other units for this category will be permanently deleted. This cannot be undone."

This cannot be undone. Take an export first if any of the data in the unselected units matters.

The picker shows the item count per unit so you can be sure you're picking the right source.

What carries over

In both directions:

Items, names, classifications, notes, attributes, are cloned (one direction) or kept from the source (other).
Attachments, image files attached to items are cloned along with their items.
Customizations like hidden columns and custom columns belong to the category on this project, not to individual sheets, they survive the conversion.

What does not carry over:

The destroyed sheets' comments and audit history, those go with the items they were attached to.
The destroyed sheets' completion timestamps, only the source sheet's completion state is preserved (and only on the per-unit → per-project direction).

When to convert

You're seeing…	Consider…
The same item entered identically in every unit's sheet	Convert to per-project.
One shared sheet with rows tagged "for Unit A" / "for Unit B" in the notes	Convert to per-unit.
A project with only one unit anyway	Either works; per-project is simpler.

How to actually do it

See convert scope for the click path.