Collaboration, Comments, and Sharing

This guide covers how a sheet works as one live source of truth inside a project: a grid that saves as you type, comments that stay on the cell they are about, and the access each person has. After it you will know who can open, edit, and comment on a sheet today, and what is not available yet. It also answers the questions an administrator asks: how access is enforced, how work is saved and audited, and what happens on a phone or a flaky connection.

One Live Grid

After this section you will know where your work lives. A sheet is one live copy, not a file. Each edit streams to the server as a compact update and is applied in order, so the sheet is saved as you type and there is no file to pass around or version to reconcile.

  • Saved as you go: there is no Save button; every edit is kept the moment you make it.
  • Cross-device: the same live sheet opens wherever you sign in.
  • One editor today: a sheet is edited by the person who created it. Live co-editing, several people typing into the same grid, is not available yet.

Comments on a Cell

After this section you will discuss the data where it lives. Anchor a comment to a cell or a selection and a thread opens in the comments sidebar. Add a comment to ask a question or flag a number, reply to continue the discussion, and resolve the thread when it is settled, so the note stays attached to the exact cell it is about rather than getting lost in a chat or an email. Today the sheet's creator adds comments; other members of the project can read the threads but cannot add to them.

A Backbuild Sheets grid with a comments sidebar open on the right showing a thread anchored to a highlighted cell, with a comment, a reply, author names and timestamps, and a Resolve control. The anchored cell and the Resolve control are circled and labelled A thread stays attached to its cell. The account email address is masked in this image.
A comment anchors to a cell or selection. Reply to keep the discussion together, and resolve the thread when it is settled.

Who Can Open a Sheet

After this section you will know exactly who can see and change a sheet. A sheet lives in a project, and access follows from that:

  • The sheet's creator edits it and adds comments to it.
  • Members of the sheet's project, including project admins, open it read-only and can read its comments. They cannot edit the grid or add comments.
  • People in your organization who are not in the project cannot open the sheet.

Sharing a sheet with a specific person at a chosen level, the way you share a document from File, Share, is not available for sheets yet: a sheet has no Share control, and there are no sheet links. To give someone a copy today, use File, Download (see Importing and Exporting). For how projects and roles work, see Roles and Permissions.

How Access Is Enforced

After this section, an administrator will trust that access holds. Access is checked on every live connection, not just when a sheet opens. A read-only viewer cannot write, and the server re-checks each open connection every 30 seconds, so when someone's access changes, for example they are removed from the project, their open sheet picks it up within about 30 seconds rather than waiting for a reload. There is no client-side path around it: the checks live on the server, so what a person can do is what their access allows.

Autosave, History, and Audit

After this section you will know your work is safe and accountable. Everything you do is saved as you do it, and the record supports both recovery and review.

  • Autosave: every edit is saved continuously and persists safely, so there is no Save button and nothing to lose if a tab closes.
  • Undo and redo: every edit can be reversed and reapplied within your session.
  • Audit: changes are recorded, so an organization has an accountable trail of activity on a sheet, which matters for a board-facing or a regulated workbook.
  • Version history: a browsable, named version history you can roll back to is coming soon. Until it ships, rely on continuous autosave and undo within a session, and take an export as a point-in-time snapshot (see Importing and Exporting).

Can I share a sheet with someone and have them co-edit live? Not yet. A sheet has one editor, its creator, and no Share control. Members of the sheet's project can open it read-only and read its comments; to give someone else a copy, download it as CSV or XLSX. Everyone who opens a sheet signs in with a Backbuild account; there are no public sheet links.

Does a change to someone's access take effect right away? Within about 30 seconds on an open sheet. The server re-checks access on every live connection every 30 seconds, so removing a person from the project ends their read-only view without waiting for them to reload.

Does it work on my phone and offline? The sheet is available across your devices and syncs between them. Editing depends on a connection: while you are connected, each edit is saved as you make it; a brief drop reconnects and resyncs. Treat continuous connectivity as the model for live collaboration rather than long-term offline editing.

Is there an audit trail I can trust for reporting? Yes. Activity on a sheet is recorded, giving an organization an accountable trail of who did what. A browsable named version history you can restore from is coming soon; for a fixed snapshot today, export the workbook.

Where to Go Next