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I get asked this quite frequently. You assign each student a Google Doc™, how do you lock them from editing PARTS of it? The short answer is you can not. However, if you follow these steps for my hack you can essentially do exactly this.
Why Lock Parts of a Google Doc?
There are many good reasons you may want to lock editing on parts of a Google Doc. View only documents lock the entire thing. Edit access provides access to the entire document, including the editing of questions. If you want students to respond to a particular prompt then you want them to answer the prompt but not edit the prompt.
For a document that asks students to update their responses you may want them to only update a previous response or to answer a follow up question without editing the previous responses.
Google Workspace Editability
The Google Workspace apps of Docs, Slides, Forms, and Sites do not offer the opportunity to restrict editing on parts. The only tool you can lock out PART of the document from editing is Google Sheets. Which is great news since “The answer is always a spreadsheet.”
Turn Google Sheets Into a Google Doc
For many circumstances a Google Sheets spreadsheet can mimic a Google Doc. Sometimes, it has improved advantages over a Google Doc.
Set Word Wrap
The key to loving using Google Sheets is word wrap. By default the text spills into the next cells. If there is content in the next cells the text gets cut off and hidden. This is easily solvable by clicking on the “awesome box.” This selects all.
After selecting all of the cells, click on the word wrap icon in the tool bar. This is located by finding the centering icon. To the right of centering is to center vertically (which is suggested to do as well). To the right of that is the word wrap icon. Click on the tiny triangle to select the middle option, wrap.
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Adjust Column Width
Get your mouse in between the column indicators to increase the width of the individual cells. When the mouse changes from a pointer arrow to a flat arrow. Hold down with the mouse to drag the column width either smaller or larger.
Enter Content
What is the information you are entering into your Google Doc? Arrange this on the Google Sheet. You do not need to worry about page width since the purpose of this article is how to lock out editing on PARTS of the Google Doc, which means it will be edited on the computer instead of printed to paper.
Merge Cells
There are circumstances where it is helpful to merge cells together to achieve the same layout of the Google Doc. Highlight multiple cells and click on the merge icon in the toolbar. You can locate the merge icon by locating the paint can in the toolbar. Paint can, borders tool, and then the merge tool is a broken square with 2 arrows pointing in. This allows you to create LARGE blocks of text.
Create Answer Boxes
There are areas of the document you want students, or users, to enter text. Identify those ranges. It may be helpful to use the border tool in the toolbar to create the answer line. If you want more room to respond, you may want to increase the row height. On the left edge of the spreadsheet hover your mouse between the two row indicators until the pointer arrow changes. Hold down your mouse and drag to increase the row height.
Lock the Ranges
Important to note: You can NOT lock the owner of a spreadsheet out of editing.
If you use Google Classroom to make a copy per student the student is the owner of the spreadsheet and can not be locked out of editing.
sheetPusher
If you need to make a copy per user where you are still the owner of the spreadsheet try my Add-on sheetPusher. This collects no user data! Coded by me, Alice Keeler, to help with how to update individual student spreadsheets all at once. Design your spreadsheet activity and then use the sheetPusher Add-on in Google Sheets to copy the sheet per student.
Protect Range
You can lock editing on cells by highlighting the cells you do NOT want the student, or user, to edit. Right click or use the Data menu to “Protect sheets and ranges.”
In the sidebar you can optionally name the protected range. Click on the “Set permissions” button.
The next pop up will ask who can edit this range. Select “Only you.”
Hide Gridlines
The real trick to disguising your spreadsheet as a Google Doc is to remove the gridlines. Use the View menu to select “Show” and uncheck “Gridlines.” This will create a solid white document that looks like a Google Doc.
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How to Lock Areas of a Google Doc
- Create a Google Sheets spreadsheet
- Turn on word wrap for the entire sheet
- Increase or Decrease columns widths
- Use border tool to create answer boxes
- Highlight protected regions
- Use the Data menu to protect the range
- Use the View menu to remove gridlines
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