Sharing, IMPORTRANGE and keeping a shared sheet safe

Remote admin and assistant work happens in shared files. Screenings check whether you can give the right access, stop accidental damage and recover when something goes wrong.

Sharing roles

• Viewer can read the file but not comment or edit.
• Commenter can add comments and suggestions but cannot change cells.
• Editor can change data, formulas and tabs, and by default can share the file with others.

Give the lowest role that lets someone do their task. If a client only needs to review a report, Commenter or Viewer is enough. The owner can also stop editors from changing sharing settings.

Preventing accidental damage

Protected ranges lock specific cells or tabs so only chosen people can edit them, while the rest of the sheet stays open for data entry. Protect header rows and formula columns first.

Data validation limits what can be typed into a cell. A dropdown of Paid, Pending and Overdue keeps a status column consistent, so filters and COUNTIF formulas keep working.

Filter views let each person filter the data without changing what others see. A normal filter on a shared sheet changes the view for every editor, which causes confusion.

Pulling data from another file

IMPORTRANGE brings a range from another spreadsheet into yours.

=IMPORTRANGE("spreadsheet URL", "Sales!A1:D50")

The first time you connect two files, the cell shows #REF! until you allow access. You need at least view access to the source. The result updates when the source changes, and you can wrap it in QUERY or FILTER to bring in only the rows you need.

Recovering from mistakes

Version history keeps earlier versions of the file with the name of who edited and when. You can restore a whole version or open it and copy back only the cells that were lost. Name important versions, such as the state before a monthly cleanup, so they are easy to find later.

Habit to keep

Before you hand over a shared sheet, check three things: the right people have the right role, headers and formulas are protected, and status columns use a dropdown.