How to Protect a Range in Google Sheets

Several people edit a shared sheet, and a block of formulas or a price list keeps getting overwritten. Protecting the range stops other editors from changing it while the rest of the sheet stays open.

Select the range to protect

Click and drag over the cells, for example B2:B50. To protect a whole sheet instead, you can skip the selection and choose the sheet in the next step.

Open the protection sidebar

Click Data, Protect sheets and ranges. A sidebar opens on the right. You can also right-click the selection, choose View more cell actions, then Protect range.

Add the range and name it

Click Add a sheet or range. On the Range tab, the selected cells are filled in. Type a short description such as Prices so the protection is recognizable in the list later. To protect an entire sheet, switch to the Sheet tab, pick the sheet, and optionally tick Except certain cells to leave some cells editable.

Set who can edit

Click Set permissions. Choose one:

• Restrict who can edit this range, then Only you, so no other editor can change it.
• Restrict who can edit this range, then Custom, and tick the people who should keep editing access.
• Show a warning when editing this range, which lets anyone edit but shows a confirmation dialog first.

Click Done. Editors who try to change a restricted cell see a message that the cell is protected.

Edit or remove the protection later

Click Data, Protect sheets and ranges again. The sidebar lists every protected range and sheet. Click one to change its range or permissions, or click the trash icon next to its name to remove the protection.

If you need to hide the data, not just lock it. Protection stops editing but anyone who can open the file can still read the cells. Put sensitive data in a separate spreadsheet with its own restricted sharing, and pull in only what is needed with IMPORTRANGE.