Sharing sheets
New sheets are private — only you can open them. Sharing follows the suite-wide model described in Sharing & access; this page covers what it looks like from inside a workbook.
Share a workbook
Section titled “Share a workbook”- Open the sheet and click Share in the header.
- Under Add people, search for a workspace member — or a group, which grants everyone on its roster at once (groups show a member count in the picker).
- Pick a role next to the name and click Add.
- Click Done. There’s no Save button — every change applies the moment you make it.
The People with access list shows the owner and every grant. Change a role from the dropdown beside a name, or click the × to remove access entirely.
Only the sheet’s owner — or a workspace owner or admin — sees the Share button and can change sharing.
What each role can do in a spreadsheet
Section titled “What each role can do in a spreadsheet”| Role | Can do |
|---|---|
| Viewer | Open the workbook, read cells and formulas, appear in presence |
| Commenter | Same as viewer for now (see note) |
| Editor | Everything above, plus edit cells, write formulas, add and remove rows/columns |
| Owner | Everything, plus sharing — the creator |
General access
Section titled “General access”Below the people list, General access sets a baseline for the whole workspace:
- Restricted (the default) — only the owner and the people or groups listed above can open the workbook.
- Anyone in workspace — every workspace member gets the role you pick beside it (viewer, commenter, or editor), useful for team-wide trackers. Explicit grants can still raise individuals above the baseline.
Someone’s effective access is the most generous of their direct grant, any group grant, and the workspace baseline.
Sharing while others are in the sheet
Section titled “Sharing while others are in the sheet”Sharing changes reach open sessions live. Grant a teammate edit access and they can start typing without reopening the workbook; downgrade an editor to viewer and their grid switches to read-only on the spot.
Someone with view-only access gets an honest read-only workbook: a View only chip in the header, the toolbar and function library disabled, and a grid that won’t accept typing. Viewers still show up in the presence avatars, so editors can see who’s reading along.