In this article we will show you how to share google sheets. We cover how to share via email and share link as well as how to set permissions and share with non gmail users.
For the purpose of the following demonstrations an example sheet was created. Click here to access this and follow along.
In the below demonstration we will demonstrate how to share Google Sheets via email to both Gmail and non-Gmail users.
Open the sheet you need to share and select the green Share button at the top right hand side of the display.
A pop up menu will now display. In the Add people and groups input box enter the email address of the person you want to share the sheet with and press enter.
In our example we are using an example email address: example@gmail.com
The pop up menu will now display with more options, you can add additional email addresses by entering them into the email address input bar.
To the right of the email address(s) expand the dropdown menu to change the user permissions. The options are:
Viewer: Allows the recipients to view the sheet only. They will not be able to add comments or edit.
Commenter: Permits the recipients to view the sheet and add comments however they will not be able to edit any data on the sheet.
Editor: Grants the recipients full access to the sheet. They can view, add comments and are able to edit the data on the sheet. Any edits will reflect in real time to any people with access to the sheet.
In the example we will not add any more email addressed and will set the user permission to Editor.
There is a checkbox labelled Notify people, click to check this box and the people will have an email sent notifying them of the access.
If this box is not checked the permission will be applied but the people will not be notified.
Add a message in the Message input box and click Send.
At this point if the email address added is not a Gmail user a message will display to notify that you are sending to a non-Google account. Click Share anyway and the user will be notified they are granted access without having to sign in.
A pop up dialogue will inform: Access updated.
The sheet is shared and the recipients have the access permissions granted.
If the Notify people box was checked previously or any email addresses are not Gmail they will receive a notification with any message stated.
Sometimes it is easier to share with multiple people by providing a Share Link, in the below demonstration we will explain how to create a share link to send to people by different methods of communication.
With the sheet you want to share open click the green Share button at the top right of the screen.
A pop up menu will display, at the bottom if this menu click the General access dropdown menu, by default this will be set to Restricted. Select Anyone with the link from the menu.
On the right hand side of the General access section is a drop down menu, Viewer is set by default. Expand the dropdown by clicking it. There are three options:
Viewer: Allows anyone with the link to view the sheet only. They will not be able to add comments or edit.
Commenter: Permits people to view the sheet and add comments however they will not be able to edit any data on the sheet.
Editor: Grants the recipients of the link full editing access to the sheet. They can view, add comments and are able to edit the data on the sheet. Any edits will reflect in real time to any people with access to the sheet.
Click the button labelled Copy link, this will copy the link to share - you can now share the link with any intended people through any text based communication.
Click Done to close the sharing menu.
Sometimes you may need to amend the sharing settings or stop sharing the sheet completely.
With the sheet opened click the green Share button at the top right hand side of the display.
The sharing options menu will now display, if the sheet has previously been shared with email recipients these will display under the section labelled People with access. On the right hand side of each person is a dropdown menu.
Click the dropdown menu to expand it, there are four options:
Viewer: The individual will not be able to add comments or edit the data in the sheet.
Commenter: The individual can view the sheet and is able to add comments but they will not be able to edit any data.
Editor: Grants the individual full edit access to the sheet. They can view, add comments and are able to edit the data on the sheet. Any edits will reflect in real time to any other people who have access to the sheet.
Remove access: This revokes any access permissions the individual has on the sheet. They will no longer be able to view the sheet at all. Their email will be removed from the People with access section.
In the section of the sharing options menu labelled General access, expand the dropdown menu to see the following options:
Restricted: This option stops sharing the sheet to any users accessing it via a pre-shared link.
Anyone with the link: Allows the link to be shared. Any user accessing via the link will be granted access permissions.
On the right hand side of the General access section is a drop down menu, expanding this will allow you to change the access permissions to Anyone with the link. The options are Viewer, Commentor and Editor. These options allow users with the link access as stated in the previous step.
Click the blue Done button. Any changes or restrictions to sharing will be applied and the sharing options menu will close.
We can share a Google Sheet to more than 100 people by publishing the sheet to the web. Here’s how to do it.
Note: When publishing a file, the file becomes visible to everyone on the web. Please remember this if publishing private or sensitive information.
From the file menu click File to display the menu then click Share. From the side menu select Publish to web.
A menu box will now pop up with various options. These options allow you to choose which data will be published and how.
Expand the dropdown menu underneath Link to choose which data to publish, the dropdown menu will give an option to publish the entire workbook or if there are multiple sheets in your workbook you can choose to publish select, individual sheets.
In the second drop down menu you can now choose how the published document will display:
Web page: Publishes the sheet as a web page that can be viewed by anybody who enters the link.
The other options will download the sheet in the following file formats to the users computer when accessing the link:
Comma-separated values (.csv)
Tab-Separated values (.tsv)
PDF document (.pdf)
Microsoft Excel (.xlsx)
OpenDocument spreadsheet (.ods)
In our example we will click Web page, this will not download anything to the user's computer if the link is entered and instead display online in the browser.
Click the green Publish button, a dialogue will display. Click OK.
The sheet will be published and the link will be displayed. You can now share the link with more than 100 people who can access the sheet to view. Only the view access is granted via the link
If any users need additional access permissions this can be achieved by individually sharing via their email. See the How to Share Google sheets via Email section of this guide.
If you need to stop publishing, this can be achieved by expanding the Published content and settings drop down section and clicking Stop publishing.
If you need to access the code to embed the sheet in your website click the Embed tab option, the HTML code will be displayed instead of the link.
We hope this article has helped you and given you a better understanding of how to share Google Sheets. You might also like our articles on how to create a table in Google Sheets and how to share one tab in Google Sheets.
To optimize your workflow, we recommend reading our guide on how to import a CSV to Google Sheets.
