To share a Google Sheet view only, click Share, add the person's email, set their role to Viewer and click Send. Keep general access on Restricted so the link works only for people you named. Before sharing statement data, delete full account numbers from the sheet, because a viewer can still read everything the file contains.
How do you share a Google Sheet view only with one person?
Sharing a Google Sheet view only with one person takes four steps: open the sheet, click Share, type their email address, and choose Viewer from the role menu beside it. Then click Send. They get an email with a link, and the sheet opens for them without any edit controls.
The steps in full:
- Open the spreadsheet in Google Sheets on a computer.
- Click Share in the top right corner.
- Type the recipient's email address.
- In the role menu next to the address, choose Viewer. Pick Commenter instead if you want them to leave notes on cells, such as "what was this payment?".
- Add a short message if it helps, then click Send.
Google Drive's help page on sharing files from Google Drive sets out what each role allows. A viewer can view but not comment, edit, share or change permissions. A commenter can do the same plus comment. An editor can change the content and share the file with others, which is more than an accountant reviewing a statement needs.
Restricted or Anyone with the link for a view-only Google Sheet?
Use Restricted for a view-only Google Sheet that holds financial data. Under Restricted, only people you added can open the file. Anyone with the link lets anyone who has the link open it without signing in to a Google account, which means a forwarded email or a pasted link in a chat is enough to expose the sheet.
The general access setting sits at the bottom of the Share dialog, below the list of people. It applies on top of the named people, so a sheet can have three named viewers and still be open to the world if general access says Anyone with the link.
Anyone with the link is acceptable for a template or a public price list. For a sheet of bank transactions, it removes the one control that tells you who is reading. Check the setting each time you share an older file, since it may have been changed for a different purpose months ago.
Stopping downloads, printing and copying of a view-only Google Sheet
A view-only Google Sheet can still be downloaded, printed and copied by default. Google's sharing help page says download is allowed for viewers by default and the owner can control it. To turn that off, open Share, click the Settings gear, and clear the box that gives viewers and commenters the option to download, print and copy.
That setting raises the effort needed to take a copy, but it is not a lock. A viewer can still read every value on screen, take screenshots, or type numbers out by hand. Treat it as a way to stop casual copies, such as an accountant's assistant saving the file to a shared folder, not as protection for data that must stay secret.
Editors are not covered by this checkbox. Anyone you give the Editor role can download the file regardless, and can also share it further unless you restrict that in the same settings panel.
Account numbers in a shared Google Sheet: delete them, do not hide them
Delete account numbers from a shared Google Sheet rather than hiding the column. A hidden column is still part of the file. Anyone who can download it, make a copy, or edit it can bring the column back, and the values are still there for formulas and exports to pick up.
The same goes for a hidden tab. A sheet with a visible "Summary" tab and a hidden "Raw" tab holding full statement lines shares both.
A safer way to prepare the sheet:
- Make a sharing copy. Use File, then Make a copy, and share the copy, not your working file.
- Shorten account numbers in the copy to the last four digits, which is how most statements print them anyway.
- Remove columns the reader does not need, such as running balance or reference numbers, if the review is about categories only.
- Check for addresses and names in descriptions. Transfers often carry a person's full name. Extracting addresses from a PDF into Excel shows how such details end up in converted data in the first place.
If the shared copy draws from several statement tabs, combining multiple sheets in Google Sheets explains how to pull them into one tab with values only, so no hidden links to your working file remain.
When a view-only Google Sheet link is the wrong way to share
A view-only Google Sheet link is the wrong choice when the recipient needs to work on the numbers, when they have no Google account and Restricted access, or when the data should not stay online at all. In those cases a file sent once, or an editable copy that is theirs, fits better than a live link to your sheet.
Common examples:
- An accountant who reconciles. They need to sort, add columns and tick lines off. Give them their own copy as an Excel file, or the Editor role on a copy.
- A recipient without a Google account. Restricted access asks them to sign in. Send a PDF or XLSX instead of switching to Anyone with the link.
- A one-time check. If someone needs to see a total once, a screenshot or a PDF export avoids an open link that lasts for years.
- Data you plan to keep changing. A live link shows your edits in progress. Clean the data first. Removing duplicates in Google Sheets is a good step before anyone else sees the rows, since repeated lines are a common result of joining statements.
Review shared files now and then. The Share dialog lists everyone with access, and removing a person there ends their access straight away.
If the sheet started as a PDF statement, a cleaner source means less to strip out before sharing. FastBankConvert is being built to turn a statement PDF into Excel or CSV with each field in its own column, so removing a column is a single step. It is getting ready to open; you can join at Get started.