How to Share Only One Tab in Google Sheets (6 Easiest Methods)

Google Sheets is the best spreadsheet program for team collaboration. It comes with powerful functionalities, such as live chat and version history. Moreover, users can share specific tabs or worksheets with their colleagues.

If you are searching for solutions to share only one tab in Google Sheets, then welcome to this blog.

There are various scenarios, as follows, where you may wish to share specific spreadsheets with your colleagues:

Hiding confidential information
Avoiding access to unrelated data
Make sure a particular set of members land on a specific worksheet

In this quick guide, let us look at the methods to share only one tab in Google Sheets. We will discuss the steps and precautions, so make sure to read the article till the end.

How to Share Only One Tab in Google Sheets

Google Sheets doesn’t come with any built-in feature to share only one tab, also known as the worksheet. Instead, users are allowed to share the entire worksheet quickly using the Share button on the upper-rightmost corner of the screen.

You need to follow an extra workaround to share only one tab.

Here is the list of methods to quickly share a worksheet:

Using the Share button
Using the Hide Sheet feature
Using the IMPORTRANGE function
Creating a Separate Workbook
Publishing the tab on the Web
Protecting others tabs

Note that none of the above methods is as straightforward as it sounds. As I said at the beginning, there is no direct method; you must go through a workaround.

Now, without any further ado, let’s discuss each method in detail.

This method isn’t as effective as others on this list. It is the quickest one, though.

You don’t have to alter any configuration or even create a new workbook. All you need to do is copy the URL to a specific tab of your Google Sheets.

Let me first explain one of the simple principles behind Google Sheets links.

Every Google Sheets tab is identified by a unique ID. Consider the following example Google Sheets link.

How to Share Only One Tab in Google Sheets

As highlighted in the image, the number after the URL element “gid” represents a unique identifier for a specific tab within the respective Google Sheets.

This unique number changes whenever you switch tabs and click on any of the cells.

Now, here are the steps to share a unique link that belongs to a specific tab in your Google Sheets.

Open the Google Sheets, which contains the tab that you wish to share
Select the tab or sheet name as shown below
Click on any cell. For example, the cell A1
Go to the address bar of your browser and copy the link
Now, hover to the upper-rightmost corner of the screen and click on the “Share” button
A new popup will appear on your screen, as shown below
Click the dropdown below the General access option
Choose “Anyone with the link” from the list
Change the role to “Editor” as shown in the following image
Press the “Done” button

You can share the link copied in Step 4 with anyone. They will land on the selected tab or sheet after linking the link. Also, as we have granted edit access to the Google Sheets, invited users will be able to edit the file without any restrictions.

Note that you can assign roles as viewer, editor, or commenter based on your preference using the dropdown as shown in the following image.

METHOD #2 – Using the Hide sheet feature in Google Sheets

Users can use this method to highlight a specific sheet or tab in their workbook effectively.

Consider that you have prepared a summary of traffic insights over the last year in the first sheet, and the rest of the sheets contain the raw data exported from tools like Google Analytics.

In this case, you can hide the sheets with the raw data and share the entire Google Sheets. Users will view the insights from the first sheet without being confused by the raw data.

Let’s discuss the steps to hide the unwanted tabs or worksheets:

Open the Google Sheets
Right-click on the name of the tab or sheet as shown in the following image
Choose “Hide sheet” from the list

The selected tab will instantly disappear. You will see the notification below on the lower-rightmost corner of the screen.

You can repeat the above steps for the remaining tabs from your Google Sheets.

Once all the sheets are hidden, follow the steps below to share the workbook.

Hover to the upper-rightmost corner of the screen
Click the “Share” button
A new popup will appear
Enter the email of the users with whom you wish to share the file in the empty box as shown below
Then, assign a specific role using the dropdown beside the user’s email
Click the “Send” button

Note that the people with Edit and Comment access to the file can unhide the hidden sheets anytime they wish. You won’t be notified about this change.

It also means that the hidden sheets are not confidential. This is the drawback of this method.

METHOD #3 – Using the IMPORTRANGE function

It is one of the most effective ways of sharing only one tab in Google Sheets.

Before we jump into the steps to share the tab, let us discuss the IMPORTRANGE function.

Explained: The IMPORTRANGE function in Google Sheets

It’s an array formula used to import a specific sheet to the same or different Google Sheets. The IMPORTRANGE function is pretty straightforward.

Here’s the general syntax for the function,

=IMPORTRANGE(spreadsheet_url, range_string)

Each argument of the above function needs to be replaced with the proper information.

Additionally, note that the formula will only work if you use double quotation marks for both of the arguments.

“spreadsheet_url” – Here, you can put the URL of the Google Sheets from which you wish to import the data.
“range_string” – It needs to be replaced with the exact cell range you want to import from the primary Google Sheets.

The arguments are pretty straightforward. The only precaution is to make sure the link put in the place of the spreadsheet_url argument allows users to edit the Google Sheet if shared directly.

Now, let’s use this function to share only one tab in Google Sheets.

We have divided this method into three steps.

STEP #1 – Get the link

First, we need to get the link for the tab we wish to share.

As we discussed in the first method on this list, Google Sheets creates a unique link that contains the series of numbers for each tab.

Here’s how to get the unique link for a specific tab:

Open the Google Sheets
Click on the tab or sheet name as shown below
Select any cell from the sheet
Copy the entire link from the address bar of your browser

So, this is the link that we can use in the IMPORTRANGE function.

But note that it is accessible only to the owner of the source Google Sheets. Simply put, others can’t use that link to pull the data.

The link should give the edit access to other users if it is opened on their browser.

Let’s try it by ourselves.

Put the copied link in the address of a different browser to check if it allows you to edit the file. You will see the notification as shown below.

The file is asking you to request access to the file.

In simple words, it is not accessible to everyone except the owner of the file.

Let’s look at the steps to create a link with which everyone will be able to access.

Go to the upper-rightmost corner of your Google Sheets and Click the “Share” button
You will see the following popup
Click the dropdown below the “General access” option
Choose “Anyone with the link” from the list
Now, change the role to “Editor” by clicking the dropdown beside the “General access” option. Refer to the following image
Click the “Done” button

With these steps, the link we copied can be used in the Google Sheets by the owner as well as anyone on the internet.

STEP #2 – Import data using the IMPORTRANGE function

This is the crucial step in sharing a specific tab with others. It’s pretty easy.

You can either create a separate file including the IMPORTRANGE function to share a specific sheet with everyone or send the link to others and tell them the following steps to import a specific tab from your source Google Sheets.

The choice is yours!

Open a new Google Sheet by clicking here
Select the cell “A1“
Type “=importrange”
Choose the first option from the popup
Replace the spreadsheet_url argument with the link we copied in the previous step
(Make sure to use double quotation marks; otherwise, the formula will return an error)
Now, press “,” to move to the next argument
Type “Form Responses 3!A:Z“
(Here, make sure to put your sheet name in the place of keyword “Form Reponses 3”)
Close the bracket using “)“
Press “Enter” key

Here’s how our final formula should be,

=IMPORTRANGE("https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1ixmPa9TyctCgU4ltXUDqVyVsKirgkDzDW1XE6VjU_CA/edit?resourcekey#gid=1088022789","Form Responses 3!A:Z")

Google Sheets will display the notification as “Loading…”. You need to wait for some. It depends upon your network speed.

PRECAUTION: Make sure to use the double quotation marks for both arguments of the IMPORTRANGE function.

STEP #3 – Share the sheet

Suppose, you have created a new Google Sheet and imported a specific tab from another file using the IMPORTRANGE function.

Now, it is time to share it with others. Use the following steps:

Click the “Share” button from the upper-rightmost corner of the screen
A new popup will be displayed as shown below,
Enter the email address in the empty box
Now, assign a specific role using the dropdown beside the email address. Refer to the following image,
Click the “Send” button

Using the IMPORTRANGE function to share a specific tab in Google Sheets requires users to know various things.

It may feel like a pretty lengthy process in the beginning. Indeed, using this function becomes the most efficient way of sharing only one tab in Google Sheets once you get used to it.

METHOD #4 – Creating a separate Workbook

This is a pretty straightforward method. All you need to do is copy the sheet or tab you wish to share with others into a new workbook.

Then, that new workbook can be shared with anyone on the internet.

Obviously, it also means you need to keep track of two different Google Sheets: Original and Shared.

Here are the steps to copy a tab:

Open the Google Sheet containing the tab to be shared with others
Right-click the name of the tab or sheet as shown in the following image
Choose the “Copy to” option from the list
Select the “New spreadsheet” option
You will see the following popup once the file is successfully copied
Click the “Open spreadsheet” link as shown below

Once the tab is copied to a new Google Sheet, use the Share button on the upper right-hand side of the screen to share it. Refer to the previous sections of this article to know the steps to share Google Sheets using the Share button.

METHOD #5 – Publish the Tab on the Web

This is the last but one of the best methods to share a specific tab using cloud-based spreadsheet programs like Google Sheets.

You can publish the file on the internet and share the link from the address bar with everyone.

The only thing is that users can only view the file. They are not allowed to make any edits or comments to the file.

Here are the steps to publish a specific tab from Google Sheets:

Open the Google Sheets
Hover to the main menu
Click the “File” button
Select “Share” from the list
Then, choose the “Publish to web” option
A new popup will be displayed on your screen
You need to click on the dropdown below the “Link” option, as shown in the following image
Next, select the sheet or tab name that you wish to share with others
Click the second dropdown as shown below to see the file format options to publish on the web
Let’s keep the selection to “Web” only
Now, click the dropdown “Publish content & settings” as shown below
Click the first dropdown as shown below
Make sure to tick only before the sheet name that needs to be shared
Press the “Start publishing” button
A notification will be displayed on the top of your screen
Click the “OK” button

Once the document is published, you will see a new box in the publish popup, as shown below.

It contains the link to the selected tab. You can share it with anyone.

As mentioned earlier, note that people can only view and download the shared tab or sheet.

METHOD #6 – Protecting other Tabs

For the security of confidential data, Google Sheets offers a feature known as “Protected sheets and ranges”.

You can use it to restrict edit access to sheets or tabs, and even cell ranges from a specific tab.

It is one of the effective ways of sharing only one tab with others because your confidential data is safe and not editable.

The steps to protect or restrict edit access to a specific tab or sheet are pretty straightforward. However, you can not limit the access to multiple files at once.

So, you need to follow the steps below for each tab or sheet in case of multiple sheets.

Open the Google Sheet
Select the sheet or tab that you wish to protect
Hover to the main menu
Click on the “Data” tab
Choose the “Protected sheets and ranges” option from the popup
A new tab will open on the right-hand side of the screen
Press the green link named “Add a sheet or range“
Now, as we plan to hide the entire sheet or tab, click on the option shown below
Make sure the correct sheet is selected using the dropdown as follows
Click the “Set permissions” button
A popup will appear on the screen, as shown below
Make sure the radio button before the “Restrict who can edit this” option is ticked
Now, Google Sheets will allow only the owner to view and edit the protected file by default. So, we will keep the following selection as is
Press the “Done” button

Note that protecting a sheet means restricting the edit access to a specific tab. Simply put, the users will be able to comment and view the file with limited access.

Q. What is another way to protect a sheet or tab in Google Sheets?

There are two ways to protect a tab in Google Sheets. Both of them are identical and require you to put in the same amount of effort.

We have discussed the standard way, which includes accessing the feature from the main menu.

Now, let us discuss the alternative.

Open the Google Sheet
Right-click on the name of the sheet or tab you wish to protect
Choose the “Protect sheet” option from the list

Google Sheets displays further options to protect the sheet on the right-hand side of the screen.

FAQs

Q. How do you create a new Google Sheets that includes a specific tab?

In case of sharing a specific tab by creating a new Google Sheets, you need to import it using the Copy spreadsheet tool.

Here are the steps:

Open the Google Sheet
Click the tab which you wish to import to a new Google Sheet
Hover to the lower side of the screen and right-click on the name. Refer to the following image
Select the “Copy to” option from the list
Now, choose “New spreadsheet“

You can open the new Google Sheet by clicking the link as shown in the following image.

You are supposed to see this popup once you click the “New spreadsheet” option, as discussed in the above steps.

Q. Can you restrict edit access to only one tab in Google Sheets?

Yes, of course. Google Sheets allows you to protect sheets or a range of cells from specific users.

People will only view and comment on your file, but they won’t be able to edit it.

You can protect the sheet by right-clicking the name and then selecting the “Protect sheet” option, as shown below.

The complete step to protect a sheet is discussed in method 6 of this article.

Q. How do you convert a specific tab to PDF in Google Sheets?

Few people may wish to share a specific tab by importing it to a PDF.

This is particularly true in the case of those who create reports from massive datasets.

The steps to convert a specific tab to a PDF are pretty straightforward.

Open the Google Sheets
Hover to the main menu
Click on the “File” tab
Select the “Download” option from the popup
Now, choose the “PDF (.pdf)” option
You will see the following screen
Make sure the “Current sheet” option is selected in the “Export” section
Press the “Export” button on the upper-rightmost corner

Your download will start instantly.

Conclusion

That’s it! You have made it to the end.

We have discussed all the possible workarounds to share only one tab in Google Sheets.

There are a range of third-party add-ons that allow you to protect confidential datasets and share spreadsheets with certain users. However, built-in tools and features discussed above in this article provide the same results.

Note that as of 2023, there is no direct tool or feature in Google Sheets to share a specific tab with others. But you can choose from one of the easy-to-follow workarounds discussed in this article.

Comment below if you are stuck somewhere while following the steps discussed above.

Also, make sure to refer to our blog for more such tips and tricks to use Google Sheets like a pro and make the most out of it.