By NakodaX Marketing team
NakodaX · · Updated
NakodaX blog/Document Protection·2 min read
How do you share a spreadsheet without sharing every column?
Hiding a column or filtering rows in a spreadsheet leaves the data in the file, and the recipient can show it again. NakodaX Selective Share sends a real spreadsheet with only the sheets, columns and rows you pick. The rest is removed from the file that is sent, so it never reaches the recipient.
Hiding is a setting. Removing is a different file.
On this page
A manufacturer keeps sales, stock and targets in one workbook. Each distributor needs their own numbers. The same workbook also holds the other regions, the price tiers and your margin.
Cutting it into one file per person takes time and is repeated every month, so the full workbook goes to everyone, or someone deletes columns by hand.
Why does hiding a column not work?
A hidden column or a filter is only a setting in the file. The recipient can show the column again or clear the filter. A copy edited by hand can miss a second sheet. Each recipient then holds data about the others, and may pass the file on.
What does NakodaX change?
With Selective Share you pick which sheets to include, which columns to leave out and a row filter such as a city or a state. Each recipient gets a real spreadsheet of the same type with only that. The columns you left out are not in the file.
NakodaX checks the result before it goes out and refuses the share if the check fails. One send can reach up to 10 people, and you can save a selection and reuse it next month.
How do you do it?
- Protect the workbook once. You keep one master.
- Pick a selection for the recipient: sheets, columns and a row filter.
- Share it by email with an expiry date and, if you want, an open limit.
- Reuse the saved selection with next month's sheet.
- Revoke one person's share when they no longer need it, without touching the others.
What if this is a regular feed, not a one off sheet?
For a feed that goes to many partners every day or week, use Data Protection. It cuts each recipient's file by columns and rows at the source and releases a key per run. The story of the distributor sheet for every region shows the spreadsheet case.
What does this not do?
A person can still copy the figures they were allowed to see, and a screenshot cannot be stopped. A watermark with the reader's name and the time deters this on documents.
The takeaway
Send each person a real spreadsheet that holds only what they should see.
Related product
NakodaX Document Protection
Protect documents before sharing. Control who can open them, what they can see, when access ends and how protected documents are used.
See how it worksCommon questions
Can I send different people different columns of one spreadsheet?
Yes. Pick a selection for each person. Left out columns are not in the file they receive.
Does Selective Share work with Excel and similar files?
Yes. For Excel and ODS files you can pick sheets, columns and row filters. For PowerPoint it picks slides, and for Word it picks sections.
Can the recipient unhide the columns I left out?
No. They are removed from the file that is sent.
