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Unlock and edit the destination tab
Unlock and edit the destination tab

Learn how to edit data in the destination tab, apply formulas, and keep extra columns after updates.

Karoline Fernezlian avatar
Written by Karoline Fernezlian
Updated today

A Sheetgo automation sends data from a source tab to a destination tab. This ensures data reliability as changes to the source are reflected in the destination every time the automation runs.

For this reason, the resulting tab in the destination sheet is locked by default. If you're using Google Sheets, you will see a padlock icon and a green line on the tab, reminding you that it should not be edited.

Usually, we recommend using the destination tab as a reference for your formulas, reports, and dashboards. If you want to edit the data, apply formulas, or make other changes, move the data to another tab using formulas.

However, in some cases, you may want to add extra columns with notes and formulas directly in the destination tab.

You can do this by unlocking the destination tab.

How to lock the destination tab?

This is a great feature to use with ARRAYFORMULA to enrich your data while making your sheet lighter and avoiding Google's 10 million cell limit.

  • Under Destination, go to Advanced Settings > Lock destination tab.

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How does the Lock Destination Tab feature work?

When you unlock the destination tab, instead of updating the entire tab and erasing any extra columns you have added, Sheetgo will only update the columns present in the source(s) tab, starting from column A.

If your source tab(s) contains four columns (A, B, C, and D), only those columns will be updated in the destination tab. This keeps formulas, notes, or other data to further added to other columns (column E onwards), which will remain intact after the automations run.

Example

The following image shows an unlocked destination tab. Because the source tab contains four columns (A, B, C, and D), only these columns are locked. Column E (green) is unlocked so you can add extra data, notes, and formulas, which will persist after each update.

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Note to keep your unlocked tab working correctly:

  • If the number of columns in your source tab increases, extra columns must be added to the destination tab to allow room for your data.

  • This feature unlocks columns to the right only. Sheetgo will still overwrite any data in the first columns and in all lines above the data.

  • Changing the order of columns in the destination tab may prevent your connection from working.

  • This setting does not prevent your data from moving from changing rows. Adding a "comment column" on the right side of your spreadsheet may result in errors if data shifts around.

  • This setting may not work in conjunction with Append.

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