What you will build

Share the Personal budget workbook as view-only, verify the recipient role is Viewer, and preserve an editable source copy for the owner.

Learning objectives

Open the practice workbook

HANDS-ON PRACTICE

Practice in your own copy

Make your own Google Sheets copy with the same data, formulas, formatting, filter and frozen header. The original remains unchanged.

Make a Google Sheets copy (access required) ↗View original

Sign in to Google. If the original is not publicly shared, download the full workbook and import it into Google Sheets, or paste the example data into your own sheet.

The complete Personal budget table is visible before changing sharing permissions.

Hands-on practice

Step 1: Open the practice workbook, confirm the Personal budget table contains no sensitive data, then click Share in the upper-right corner.

Step 2: In the Share dialog, under General access choose Anyone with the link, then confirm the role on the right is Viewer. Do not choose Editor when the goal is view-only access.

In Share, General access is Anyone with the link and the Viewer role is selected.

Step 3: Click Done, then confirm A1:E5 still shows the same four source records.

Checkpoint

DateCategoryDescriptionAmountStatus
2026-09-01IncomeSalary1500Posted
2026-09-02FoodGroceries85Posted
2026-09-03TransportBus pass30Planned
2026-09-05HousingRent700Planned

Checkpoint for “Share a read-only copy of Personal budget”: the Date, Category, Description, Amount, Status columns and sample records must still match this table after the lesson action.

After updating Viewer access, A1:E5 still contains the unchanged Personal budget table.

Common mistakes and fixes

Correction: if access is Restricted or Editor, reopen Share, set General access to Anyone with the link, and choose Viewer; do not edit source data to fix a sharing-permission problem.

Independent practice

Reopen Share and verify that Anyone with the link still has the Viewer role, then close the dialog without changing any data in A1:E5.

Key takeaways

  • ✓Check for sensitive data before sharing the workbook.
  • ✓Open Share from the upper-right corner of Google Sheets.
  • ✓Under General access, choose Anyone with the link and keep the Viewer role for read-only access.
  • ✓Do not use Editor when the recipient only needs to view the workbook.
  • ✓After updating access, confirm A1:E5 still contains the original four sample records.
QUICK CHECK

Check your understanding

Answer four questions about the practice sheet.

1. What is the correct first action in “Share a read-only copy of Personal budget”?
2. Which follow-up action belongs to “Share a read-only copy of Personal budget”?
3. What should you verify before “Share a read-only copy of Personal budget” is complete?
4. Which correction is appropriate if “Share a read-only copy of Personal budget” behaves unexpectedly?

Next lesson

Continue in recommended learning order with Fix #REF! errors.