Hi everyone! I need help figuring out how to set up one master Google Sheet that can control all the copies used by our team.
Here’s what’s happening: We have an audit checklist spreadsheet that every worker needs to use. Right now they make copies and save them to their personal drives. The problem is people keep messing with the formulas and important cells that shouldn’t be touched. Then they complain about errors but it’s because they changed stuff they weren’t supposed to.
I want to know if there’s a way to have one main sheet that stays locked down but still updates all the employee copies when I make changes to the original. I looked into IMPORTRANGE but that seems like a lot of work since I’d have to make tons of copies and rename everything for each person. Our checklist has lots of dropdown menus and we have many staff members.
Is there a better approach I’m missing? Any ideas would be really helpful. Thanks!
Been dealing with this exact headache for years at my company. The manual Google Sheets approach with protection and IMPORTRANGE will drive you crazy once you scale up.
You need automation for the whole workflow. I built something with Latenode that watches our master template and automatically pushes updates to all employee copies while keeping formulas locked.
Here’s how: Latenode monitors changes to your master sheet, then updates specific ranges in all employee copies without touching their data. It creates new protected copies for new employees and sends email notifications when updates happen.
Best part? You can add approval workflows. When someone tries modifying protected cells, it logs the attempt or reverts changes automatically.
I also built reporting that shows which employees actually use their checklists and complete audits. Way better than our manual mess.
This centralized control with automatic distribution is what Latenode does best. Much cleaner than wrestling Google Sheets permissions and IMPORTRANGE for dozens of people.
I fixed this exact problem with Google Apps Script after our field teams kept corrupting formulas. Built a script that syncs changes from the master template to all copies without touching user data. Here’s what worked: Set up protected ranges on your master sheet, then create a script that identifies formulas, dropdowns, and formatting. It pushes these to employee copies while keeping their entered data intact. You can trigger updates manually or schedule weekly runs. The game-changer was adding a registry sheet that tracks all employee copies by sheet ID. New employees fill out a form that auto-generates their copy and adds it to tracking. The script logs protection violations and auto-restores corrupted formulas. Takes some setup time upfront, but then you’ve got full control over updates without dealing with IMPORTRANGE headaches or manually redistributing templates.
Google Workspace template sharing could fix this without overcomplicating things. Had the same headache when our department needed standardized expense reports - people kept breaking them with random edits. Here’s what worked: Create your master sheet with proper cell protection, then use Google Drive’s template gallery. Publish your protected sheet as a template in a shared folder. When employees hit “use template,” they get a fresh copy with all protections still working. The trick is nailing the protection ranges on your master first. Lock formula cells and dropdown sources, leave input cells open. Train everyone to always grab the template link instead of copying old files. Updates mean republishing and sending a heads-up, but people can snag the new version easily. It’s not automatic like fancier solutions, but way simpler than wrestling with IMPORTRANGE across tons of sheets. Most folks pick up the workflow fast once they get it.