As the file owner or editor, you can limit who can edit
a cell range or sheet by creating protected areas within the spreadsheet.
About this task
When you create a spreadsheet, other people can't edit it
unless you share the file with them and give them Editor access. After
that, you (or any editor) can further restrict who can edit ranges
or sheets that you designate as protected. Also, remember that
access control and area protection are limited if you share the entire
file with others as readers, as they can always download a published
version and edit it in another spreadsheet application.
Procedure
- Make sure you have shared the spreadsheet file with people
who need to edit it (or any portion of it). Use the Share button
in the title bar if you want to add people as editors now.
- Click . The Protected Areas panel
is displayed in the sidebar.
Note: To show the sidebar panel that contains
comments, close the Protected Areas panel.
- Click New Protected Area.
- In the sheet, drag to select a range, or click the beginning
of a sheet (as shown in the diagram) to select the whole sheet. The
correct value for the new protected area is displayed in the sidebar.
Tip: You can also create a protected area by right-clicking
the range or the sheet tab and then selecting Protect Range or Protect
Sheet.
- Once the area is identified, choose one of the following
options:
- Select Editable when you want to limit
who can edit the area to a specific subset of the people with Editor
access to the file.
- Click to select Read Only from the
list when you want to exclude all editors, or a subset of them, from
editing the area.
For example, sometimes you might want to protect an entire
sheet from all editors (except yourself) by making the sheet Read
Only, and then create some Editable ranges, each restricted to only
the people you name. That way, a person can edit in the range assigned
to them, but not in the rest of the sheet.
- In the field that begins "Enter the names of people," select
the people that you want from the list, or type the first few letters
of a person's name and then select the person from the filtered list
that is displayed.
- Click away from the current field, and then click OK.
- If you want to modify or remove protected areas, hover
over an area in the panel and then click the Update or Delete button.
Important:
- Range-level protection overwrites sheet-level protection. For
example, a person is given the read-only level for Sheet 1, but the
same person was already given editable access for a cell range in
Sheet 1, they can still edit the range.
- Whenever a person opens the spreadsheet in edit mode, areas that
are read-only for them show as gray hatching . To hide these read-only markers, they can click to deselect the menu item.
- Owners and editors can see information on all the protected areas
in the sidebar panel by clicking .
- Only the file owner can modify or delete all protected areas in
the file. Other editors can modify only the protected areas that they
created. Editors who need to edit an area that they are restricted
from must ask either the file owner or the creator of the protected
area to update it.