Protect a sheet or range in Google Sheets
Lock formula columns or whole tabs in Google Sheets with a warning or a restriction, and learn how protection works with sharing and where it stops.
Last updated October 28, 2026
Click Data → Protect sheets and ranges, add the range or sheet, and choose either a warning or a list of people who may edit it. Protection prevents accidental edits by editors. Google says it "shouldn't be used as a security measure".
Protect a range or sheet
- Open the spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
- Click Data → Protect sheets and ranges. A panel opens on the right.
- Click Add a sheet or range, or click an existing protection to edit it.
- Choose Range or Sheet.
- Range: click the spreadsheet icon and highlight the cells to protect.
- Sheet: choose the tab. To leave some cells editable, check Except certain cells and select them.
- Click Set permissions (or Change permissions for an existing protection).
- Choose a warning or a restriction, as described below.
- Click Save or Done.
To see which cells are protected, click View → Show → Protected ranges. Protected cells get a striped background.
Warning only or restricted
| Option | What happens when someone edits | Use it for |
|---|---|---|
| Show a warning when editing this range | The edit isn't blocked. The person sees a message asking them to confirm the edit | Cells people may change occasionally, such as old ledger rows that should almost never change |
| Restrict who can edit this range | Only the people you allow can edit | Formula columns, lookup lists and settings |
When you restrict editing, choose one of these:
- Only you: only you, and the owner if you aren't the owner, can edit.
- Only domain: for work or school accounts, only people in your domain can edit. This is only available when everyone in your domain can edit the spreadsheet.
- Custom: only the people you pick can edit.
- Copy permissions from another range: reuse the permissions of another protected range or sheet.
How protection works with sharing
Sharing decides who can open the file and their role. Protection only narrows what editors can change inside it.
| Role in the file | What they can do with protection |
|---|---|
| Owner | Decides who can change protected ranges and sheets, and can always edit them |
| Editor | Can decide who edits ranges and sheets, but can't take permissions away from owners. Can still make a copy of a protected sheet, copy the workbook or upload a new version |
| Commenter or viewer | Can't make changes, protected or not. Can make a copy of the spreadsheet |
A viewer can't edit any cell, so protection adds nothing for viewers. It matters for editors.
Limits of protection
Google documents these limits on the protection help page:
- People "can print, copy, paste, and import and export copies of a protected spreadsheet."
- You can't lock the formatting of cells and allow edits to input values at the same time.
- You can't protect data with a password.
- If Protected sheets and ranges isn't visible, the file is probably open in Microsoft Office editing. Convert it to Google Sheets first.
None of the protection options makes a range append-only: you can't allow "add new rows, but don't change old ones." So for an inventory ledger a warning on existing rows is the practical choice. See Inventory management in Google Sheets for a layout that works with this.
Remove a protection
- Click Data → Protect sheets and ranges.
- In the panel, click Cancel to see all protections.
- Find the protection you want to remove and click the delete icon.
Why LightInventory still detects direct edits
LightInventory protects the tabs it manages so only the connected account can edit them. Because the file owner can always edit and protection isn't a security measure, LightInventory doesn't rely on it alone. It checks your spreadsheet for changes it didn't make, compares the affected rows with what it last wrote, and handles any direct edit by your chosen policy: block it until it is resolved, log it, or send it for approval. See the audit trail.