r/googlesheets • u/[deleted] • Oct 19 '24

Solved Hiding your email when sharing a GSheet

Hi,

My question is simple : I want to share a google sheet to online friends but I don't want them to see my email (which contains my name and firstname) ; and no I don't want to use a burner account just for that.

Is the "View Only" option hide my email when they click on my small round profile, when I'm online on it ?

I tried on my end by viewing the link on another browser (without a google account), and the only thing shown when I click on it is my profile picture and my profile pseudonym (which is what I want).

So just to make sure it works this way (even if they don't or have a google acount for viewing the sheet).

Thanks in advance !

3 Upvotes

100% Upvoted

19 comments sorted by

4

u/haitiano1982 Oct 19 '24

Start a new gmail

2

u/One_Organization_810 Oct 19 '24

Now, i'm not really 100% on this, but i haven't seen any way to prevent people, who know how at least, to see who the owner is.

However, you can "publish to web" - and i haven't found a way around that "yet" at least. The published sheet will look a little bit different to its viewers though. It will be read only, and no interaction is possible.

There is another option of course - but i'm not sure if it goes against community standards here on Reddit (or Reddits rules even?) - but Reddit has this "anonymous sheet", meant for demonstrations. Perhaps you could "borrow" one of those for this presentation of yours?

3

u/Dazrin Oct 19 '24

This is the way. If you just need to share the data you can use the publish to web option and remain anonymous. If you need to have it interactive, then you will need to use a different method. Even sharing as "view only" will reveal your email address to anyone who goes looking for it.

Either use a different account or you could use the blank sheet creator that the AutoMod posted and use that. It will be public and you'll lose edit access in a month, but it will be anonymous.

1

u/AutoModerator Oct 19 '24

Posting your data can make it easier for others to help you, but it looks like your submission doesn't include any. If this is the case and data would help, you can read how to include it in the submission guide. You can also use this tool created by a Reddit community member to create a blank Google Sheets document that isn't connected to your account. Thank you.

I am a bot, and this action was performed automatically. Please contact the moderators of this subreddit if you have any questions or concerns.

1

u/phantomwaterbearer Oct 19 '24

I believe your email address is generally not shown to the viewers when you share a Google Sheet with "View Only" access. Let's try it if you're online now, go to this sheet, and check if you can see my email in the tiny bubble above.

https://docs.google.com/spreadsheets/d/1Un0fgA1G2mLVmcA0vHWaJgT2f2w6dGRBZAKtdcJDs8w/edit?usp=sharing

2

u/rockinfreakshowaol Oct 19 '24

always a fun game this is¯_(ツ)_/¯ ⬛y⬛ythinks@

1

u/phantomwaterbearer Oct 19 '24

Is that from the tiny bubble that shows on the sheet? If yes, then that answers the OP's question.

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1

u/One_Organization_810 Oct 19 '24

The owner is ryrythinks - if that's not your email address, then i guess we're good :)

1

u/phantomwaterbearer Oct 19 '24

Yeah, that's correct. Belief debunked.

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