Today I want to introduce a handy feature of FileDrop that can help save both time and potential headaches. This feature allows you to preserve the formulas in a Google Sheet as data, which is incredibly useful when you need to share results without granting editing permissions.
Step 1: Identifying Your Data
Let’s imagine you have a Google Sheets spreadsheet filled with vast amounts of data and numerous formulas. These formulas may perform various functions, contributing to your final results.
Now, you wish to share these results with a colleague but don’t want them to have the ability to modify the data. Essentially, you want your colleague to see only the results without access to the underlying formulas.
Step 2: Save Selected Formulas as Text
To save your formulas as uneditable data, navigate to the ‘extensions’ option and select ‘FileDrop’. If you don’t have FileDrop install it from the Google Workspace marketplace.
If you want to save a specific formula or a selection of them, use the ‘Save selected as text’ function. This action will convert your selected formulas into text, which effectively hides them while preserving their output. For example if you want to convert formulas just from one row, select the row and click the Save selected text from the FileDrop menu.
To confirm this, click on the cell where the formula was previously located. You’ll notice that instead of showing the formula, it now displays only the result as static text.
Step 3: Save All Formulas as Text
If you wish to preserve all the formulas in your Google Sheet as text data, go back to FileDrop and select the ‘Save all values as text’ option. This action converts all formulas in the spreadsheet into text, leaving behind only the resultant data.
Video tutorial
Conclusion
Using FileDrop’s ‘Save as text’ function allows you to share your Google Sheets data without exposing the underlying formulas. This tool can be particularly useful when sharing complex spreadsheets where you want to prevent any accidental modifications.
We hope you find this guide helpful in your work and that it enhances your experience using Google Sheets and FileDrop. Until next time, cheers!
