Want to share Excel rows with different people? What you need to know

A More Common Need Than You’d Think

(Spoiler: Excel isn’t built for it. But we are.)

Imagine this: you’re managing an Excel spreadsheet with confidential information—HR data, sales opportunities, or budget tracking—and you want each person to see only the rows relevant to them. Sounds simple, right?

Not really. This article explores two options:

• What Excel can (or can’t) do when it comes to showing different rows to different people.
• And how RowShare makes it effortless.

Excel: Powerful… but not for that

You’re working in Excel, assigning rows to different people, and you want each person to access only their own rows? Here are the most common workarounds people try:

1. Create a separate sheet or file for each person

This is the most common method: duplicate the spreadsheet, filter the rows for each recipient, then share or email the file individually.

Drawbacks:

• Risk of errors (wrong person, wrong data, overwritten updates).
• No synchronization: if someone updates their file, you have to manually reintegrate the changes.
• Unmanageable at scale (beyond 5–10 people).

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2. Use filters or hide rows

Some people apply filters or hide rows before sharing the file.

Drawbacks:

• Hiding ≠ securing: anyone can unhide rows with a click.
• It’s based on trust, not actual access rights.

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3. Password-protect individual sheets

You can assign data to separate sheets and protect them with passwords.

Drawbacks:

• It’s not granular: you’re locking entire sheets, not specific rows.
• Passwords are cumbersome to manage and easy to bypass.

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👉 In short: Excel barely handles it—only if you’re ready to juggle multiple files and take some risks. Let’s face it: Excel isn’t made for collaborating on sensitive data. If you need to share different rows with different people, it’s time for a better solution.

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The Real Solution: RowShare

RowShare was built specifically for this: creating tables where each person sees only the data relevant to them. You decide which rows and columns are visible to each user.

For example, each employee sees only the rows they’re responsible for, and managers can access their team’s data.

You can share a single RowShare table with one shared link, and still ensure that each person sees only what they’re supposed to—based on their role. You can easily:

• Define that each user sees only their rows (or those you assign them).
• Grant access to all or part of the columns depending on their profile.
• Allow people to edit or view only the information that concerns them.
• Keep full visibility as an admin, with a centralized view of everything.

🎥 Here’s a short video to show you how it works:

Bonus: Already working in Excel?

No problem. You can import your existing Excel files into RowShare, and even keep them in sync if needed.
And RowShare doesn’t just limit access to rows—it gives you full control over who can see or edit which columns, too.

Real-World Examples

• HR: Managers complete performance reviews for their own teams without seeing others’.
• Sales: Reps view only their own clients and opportunities.
• Data collection: External partners or providers fill in their information but never see anyone else’s.

And that’s just the beginning. You can set precise permissions for each user or group, whether across all rows or just a subset. Allow editing but not deletion? No problem.