When to "Lock" vs. "View Only" in Google
Special shout-out to Jenny Boothroyd for inspiring this week's post with a great question about document protection!
Google Workspace is great for collaboration, but shared editing access can sometimes become a challenge. Whether it's an accidental formatting error, or unintended edits on a finalized document, protecting your work without locking down files completely can be tricky.
Most of us rely on setting View Only permissions to protect files. Google has a simple, lesser-known tool: the Lock feature.
Understanding when to freeze a file with Lock versus restricting permissions with View Only can save your documents from editing headaches.
The difference: Lock vs. View Only
- View Only (access control): Restrict permission levels long term via the Share menu. Use this when sharing to external audiences, and where people should never have editing rights.
- Lock (content freeze): Places a temporary read-only freeze on the document itself without altering sharing permissions. Edits, comments, and suggestions are disabled for everyone to prevent accidental edits. Anyone with Edit access can unlock it to make intentional changes as needed.
How to lock/unlock your document
- In Google Drive, right-click on the file you want to lock
- Click File information and click Lock
Article by Karen Matthes, Extension Learning Technologies, klm@umn.edu
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