If you have sensitive data stored in Google Sheets, it’s important to protect it. There are a few ways to secure Google Sheets, including password protection and encryption. But, before we get into those methods, let’s talk about some general tips to keep your data safe from cybercriminals.
Use Passwords
The easiest way to protect your Google Sheets is to create a password. This will ensure that no one else can access it, and it’s also very easy to set up. Just be sure to remember your password!
Encrypt Your Data
To encrypt your Google Sheets, you’ll need to turn it into an Excel workbook. This is a simple process that can be done in seconds and is a great option for anyone who’s working with data that they don’t want to share.
You can export your Google Sheets to Microsoft Excel by downloading it as an XLSX file. Then, you can encrypt the files using Microsoft Excel’s built-in encryption. Once the spreadsheet is encrypted, it can only be decrypted with the password that you created.
Add Soft Warnings to Your Sheets
There are a few other features you can add to your Google Sheets that will help keep them safe from unwanted modifications. The first is to have a soft warning show up each time you try to edit certain cells. This is great for keeping your sheets safe from users who are not authorized to edit them, or for those who might accidentally make a mistake in their editing attempts.
Hide Specific Sheets
You can also hide certain sheets within your sheet, which is a great way to secure your data and prevent others from seeing it. You can do this from the sheet’s options panel or by right-clicking on it and clicking Hide Sheet.
Lock Your Whole Sheet
While you can’t lock yourself out of the ability to edit your sheets, you can still do some things to limit what others can do with them. For example, you can tell Google to spin up a soft warning each time someone tries to edit some of your sheets. This way, you can make sure that they don’t get too far, and that they’re not making any changes that could impact your data in a negative way.
This feature is especially useful if you’re working with data that’s coming from a third-party source, such as an email or another spreadsheet. It’s a good idea to put this in place before you give anyone access to your Sheets, so they don’t make any mistakes that could cause problems for your business.
It’s also a good idea to turn on the option to show validation help text when a user enters invalid data into a cell. This is a great way to make sure that you’re doing the right thing with your data, and it will save you the trouble of deleting any incorrect information afterward.
While these are all great features to have, they might not be enough to keep your Google Sheets completely secure. So, if you have data that needs to be protected, it’s best to look for a solution that will offer more. Luckily, there are plenty of tools out there that can do this for you.