I created a Google Sheets document with custom scripts that add a menu bar with useful buttons. The sheet is shared with multiple team members, but they can’t use the custom functions I built.
When other people try to click the buttons, they get a permission error. I discovered that if they open the script editor manually and run any function once, they get the authorization popup asking for permissions. Once they approve it, everything works fine for them.
Is there a way to make my custom scripts work for everyone without requiring each person to manually authorize them through the script editor? Or is the manual authorization step unavoidable for shared spreadsheets?
I’m looking for the best approach to deploy these custom tools to my team without making everyone go through the technical setup process.
yup, it’s kind of a pain, huh? everyone has to run that script just to get permission. if it’s just for your team, maybe publishing it as an add-on could help, but it does sound like a hassle. unfortunately, that manual step is here to stay.
You can’t skip Google’s authorization step, but you can make it way easier. I ran into this same issue when rolling out custom tools to my team. Here’s what worked: I made a shared doc with screenshots showing exactly where to click in the script editor and what the auth popup looks like. Then I set up a quick team meeting where everyone authorized their scripts at the same time while I walked them through it. Questions got answered on the spot and nobody got stuck. Once you’re authorized, it sticks forever unless you change the script’s permissions. It’s a one-time pain that saves tons of time later when your team can actually use the tools.
Unfortunately, there’s no way around the authorization requirement for shared Google Sheets with custom scripts. Google built this as a security feature to prevent unauthorized code from running on user accounts. Each person has to explicitly grant permissions to your script before it can access their Google account or perform actions for them. The manual authorization through the script editor is the standard approach for shared spreadsheets with custom functions. You could create a simple guide for your team explaining how to authorize the scripts - that might make things smoother. Some organizations set up Google Workspace admin policies to help streamline script permissions, but individual authorization is still necessary for most custom script deployments.