Google Apps Script: How to Add and Remove Editors to a Google Sheet based on Sheet Data (Updated Feb 2022)

Google Apps Script, Google Sheets, Javascript

Have you ever wanted to have a Google Sheet available for only those users who need to edit and then once they are done, take their edit permissions away to maintain the integrity of the sheet?

I know that I have come across these conditions a number of times in the past. Maybe you have a task list that you want to send your team each time a task is allocated to them. Once they let you know that they are done, by say, entering a set of values or checking a task complete box on the row they need to work on, you want to be able to remove their edit permissions from your sheet.

In this post, we have created a Google Apps Script that will add and remove editors to a Google Sheet based on the spreadsheet’s data. More specifically, this script will:

  • Grab the users name and email in each row along with whether or not they have complete the task or if the Google Sheet has been shared and sent to the user.
  • Share the assigned user to the Google Sheet.
  • Send an email to the user. A separate Google Sheet tab is added to the sheet so an administrator can add their custom email message.
  • Automatically check a reference column of checkboxes indicating that the assigned user has been shared as an editor on the Google Sheet and an email has been sent to them.
  • Once the task has been complete the user check the “Edit Complete” checkbox in their assigned row.
  • Either automatically each day or when the Google Sheets administrator clicks the button,  each user who has completed all assigned tasks is removed from having edit permissions to the Google Sheet.

The best way to probably understand this script is through an example…

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Google Apps Script: How to Add and Remove Editors to A Google Sheet with Code (Updated Feb 2022)

Google Apps Script: SpreadsheetApp,  addEditor/s, removeEditor/s, alert. Javascript: try…catch, forEach, join, push, template literal. Google Sheets

In this tutorial, we will go over the basics of adding users as Editors to Google Sheets with Google Apps Script. We’ll go through the process step-by-step, starting with two very basic codes and then progress on to error handling so your code doesn’t break for your user.

In Google Sheets just like Docs, Slides, Forms and Sites you can add co-editors to work on your projects. This is usually done straight from Google Drive or within the chosen Google file in the top right with the Share button.

Share button Google Sheets

Google Sheets Share Edit permisssions

The rules for sharing a specific user as an editor are pretty simple. The user must have either a Gmail (name@gmail.com) account, GSuite for Education domain account (name@yourdomain.com) or Google Workspace (formerly, Gsuite) account with an email in the workspace’s domain (name@yagisanatode.com).

Now that we have all the basics, let’s go ahead and write some Google Apps Script code. First of all, open a Google Sheet. It can be one that you want to use to add and remove editors with code on a project you are working on or just a practice Google Sheet. Then go to Extensions > App Script.

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