In data backup runs, you may see runs where there are a large amount of unexpected changes. This is due to a quirk in the backup run's changes in metadata, and something we seek to explain in this article.
What is the behavior?
In the View records of the backup run, you may see changes to the record
This will usually affect only one object
The majority of records will record a change
However the field value view will not show any differences
In this example all 23 Lead records are shown as changed, but there is no visible difference in the field values being backed up. Normally there would highlighted blocks in red, green or yellow on the bottom half of the screen.
Why is this happening?
If you look into the Metadata history view of the back up run on that day, you can verify if there is a New metadata change on the custom object. This could be
a record type, or
a custom field
If these new metadata fields have not been populated with field values, these newly created fields on the custom object will create a null value field that will appear as changed in the UI, but Gearset won't be able to render the differences in the field value viewer.
Before May 2022, this "change" in the metadata (and data representation) will be only be picked up in full run, that happens once every week. Therefore, it's possible that the date of the metadata change is not the same exact run as the data records showing up as changed. After May 2022, the metadata will be shown on the same run as the data backup.