How to lock cells in Google Sheets™ for everyone except you (and what it can't stop)
Locking cells is the single most effective guardrail on a shared Google Sheets™ file. It takes a minute, and it ends the typed-over-formula problem for good. But it is a guardrail, not security: know what it stops and what it cannot.
Lock a range
- Select the cells to lock (formula columns, headers, lookup tables).
- Choose Data → Protect sheets and ranges → Add a sheet or range.
- Give it a name, then Set permissions to Only you, or to a custom list of keeper addresses.
- Leave input cells open. Protection that blocks legitimate work gets removed; protection around formulas does not.
What it can't stop
- The file owner can always edit. Protection does not bind the owner.
- Anyone with edit access can make a copy. The copy has no protection. That is usually fine; the shared original is what matters.
- Viewers and commenters are unaffected. They could not edit anyway.
- It is not access control. For genuinely sensitive data, do not share the file: share a copy with the data removed.
Lock the right ranges
Shared Sheet Guardrails™ checks a Google Sheets™ file, proposes which ranges to lock and why, and applies the lot in one go. Checking any sheet is free, and you can take guardrails off in one click.
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