How To Share Only One Tab in Google Sheets

Unlike other spreadsheet tools, learning how to share your Google Sheets is as straightforward and easy as doing it. What’s more, Google Sheets Permissions allow for viewing, commenting, and editing access rights.

As easy as it is to share the whole spreadsheet, what if your spreadsheet contains several sheets? Fortunately, it’s possible to share only one tab in Google Sheets. In this article, you’ll learn how to share only one sheet or a specific tab in Google Sheets following four different methods: linking another user to the sheet, hiding sheets from other users, creating a new file with the Google Sheet, and exporting a single tab. Alternatively, a collaborative tool like Layer offers the necessary flexibility to share and collaborate on your spreadsheet while maintaining full control.

If you want to get started right away, you can do that using Layer. Layer is a free add-on that allows you to share sheets or ranges of your main spreadsheet with different people. On top of that, you get to monitor and approve edits and changes made to the shared files before they're merged back into your master file, giving you more control over your data.

Install the Layer Google Sheets Add-On today and Get Free Access to all the paid features, so you can start managing, automating, and scaling your processes on top of Google Sheets!

Can you share only certain tabs in Google Sheets?

Google Sheets doesn’t currently offer any feature to do this. However, there are four methods you can use to share a single tab with other users, which depend on whether you want them to view the other tabs or not. This is how you can share just one sheet in Google Sheets.

How to link a user to a specific Google Sheet?

Let’s say that you have a spreadsheet containing all the leads created by your sales team, and each tab corresponds to a specific sales representative. In this case, you’ll only want to grant access to their own tab. This is how you can link a user to their specific Google Sheet.

1. 1. Open the Google Sheets file containing the tab you want to share, and open the first tab. You should see “gid=0” at the end of the URL.

1. 2. Click on any other tab, and you’ll find that this number is different.

1. 3. Go to the tab you’d like to share and copy the end of the URL, from “gid=” to the end. Make sure to copy and paste this ending before moving on to the next step.

1. 4. Click on the “Share” button placed in the top-right corner of your spreadsheet.

1. 5. Go to the end of the “Share with people and groups” setting window and click on “Copy link” from the “Get link” group.

Now you simply need to add the URL ending you copied previously and paste it at the end of the sharable link you copied. You should end up with a sharable link similar to this:

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/133_amVuGWjIKfP88zEqNlw5-WQix5QhKIRUUNXvfjPw/edit?usp=sharing#gid=1675422219

However, this is only a useful option if you don’t mind the user seeing the other tabs. Although you’ve directed them to a specific tab, they can still move around freely and click on the rest.

How to hide a Google Sheet from other users?

This is a better alternative in case you don’t want users to see the other tabs in the spreadsheet. This is how you can hide a Google Sheet from other users.

1. 1. Right-click on the sheet you’d like to share and select “Hide” from the drop-down menu.

1. 2. Apply this action to all other tabs except the one you’d like to share.
2. 3. Once you finish, you simply need to repeat steps 4-5 from the previous section.

How to hide Google Sheets from other users by protecting the sheets?

To fully hide Google Sheets from other users, you will need to protect them.

1. 1. Right-click on the tab name and select “Protect sheet.”

1. 2. In the “Protected sheets & ranges” pane, click on “Set permissions”.

1. 3. Click on the “Restrict who can edit this range” option and then select only the users who can access this specific tab.

1. 4. Note how the owner will remain selected to edit by default. Once you select the user, click “Done”.

Repeat the same steps as before to “Get Link” and then share with the corresponding user.

How to create a new file with one Google Sheet?

So far, the methods provided here don’t actually remove the data outside the shared tab. To do this, you will need to create a new file to contain your Google Sheet tab.

1. 1. Open your Google Sheets and go to File > Make a copy.

1. 2. Type in a new name, for example, the name of the user you wish to share the tab with. Leave the rest of the options unchecked and click on “Make a copy”.

1. 3. Go to the copied spreadsheet and right-click on a tab, then “Delete”. Do this for all tabs you want to avoid sharing until you’re left with the one you want to share.

Now you can share with the corresponding user. You no longer have to worry about them accessing or losing other data. The only downside is that you’ll have to update each sheet every time an update is made to the Google Sheet you copied. This can soon lead to numerous versions of the same file. For this, we recommend using Layer. Layer creates a main file and transfers any changes made to other linked files automatically.

How to export a Google Sheet?

For most users, this represents the fastest and most secure way to share a single Google Sheet while protecting the rest of the tabs.

1. 1. Go to the tab you want to share. Then go to File > Download > PDF Document.

1. 2. A “Print settings” window will pop up, so you can make the necessary changes. Note how the “Current sheet” option is selected by default under the “Export” options, then click on “EXPORT”.

Although the PDF format is the preferred option in terms of security and protection, it’s not a flexible format at all - especially if you’re the one receiving the data and need to edit it.

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Conclusion

If you work with large datasets, then it’s likely that your Google Sheets contains several tabs. Although the “Share” button in Google Sheets speeds up the process notably, this is only useful in case you want other users to access all tabs in your Google Sheets.

This article has shown you how Google Sheets lets you share only a tab or sheet. You’ve seen four different ways to share only one sheet or a specific tab in Google Sheets depending on what level of access you want to allow for other users. By linking another user to the sheet, you’re not hiding sheets from other users; by hiding, you’re not protecting from the rest and this will require taking a further step. Finally, the most secure way to share only one tab is to create a new file with the Google Sheet or export a single tab as a new spreadsheet.

Alternatively, a collaborative tool like Layer offers the necessary flexibility to share and collaborate on your spreadsheet while maintaining full control. If you would like to learn more about sharing and collaboration features in Google Sheets and Excel, check out the articles below:

• How to Share an Excel File for Multiple Users?
• How To View The Edit History in Google Sheets?
• How to Track Changes in Google Sheets?