Okay, I'm assuming that what I'm looking for is probably not possible, but maybe there's someone out there who likes bending software to do strange things ... .
At work we have a google Sheet which everyone has access to, to add the current projects they are working on, so that the boss knows exactly what everyone is working on at any given moment!
Stupidly(!), when I set this up, I gave everyone the email address and password so that we are all logged in to the same account and updating the Sheets list as projects come in and out. Instead of suggesting that everyone set up a Gmail account and invite them to the Sheet.
The Sheet is set up so that there are 4 columns for co-workers, and then down the side, there are four ranges of rows for teams. So - 4 co-workers (in the x-axis) per team (in the y-axis). Hope that makes sense. Each Team has maybe 10+/- rows for possible projects that each co-worker is working on.
The boss has a bit(!!) of an obsessive character and EVERY! time she sees a row with no jobs in it, she deletes the row. So obsessive that she is at this 10 hours a day. I can see the rows disappearing as soon as a project is removed. All co-workers are extremely annoyed because as soon as a new project comes in, they then have to re-add a row (or more) so that they can update their list. The whole company is constantly, back-and-forth, non-stop deleting and adding rows in this darned Sheet. It's actually quite ridiculous.
So, to my question.
Is there any way I can protect this sheet, or the rows, so that rows can't be deleted? I have set up the rows as protected, but this only gives a 'warning' that they are protected (because, of course, we are all working in the same Gmail address.) (The boss must be clicking 'OK' 40-50 times a day).
Is there any script, perhaps, that will password protect an area? Or even better, permanently protect an area without a password window popping up?
Or ... more radically, and at this point in time, the more devilishly desired solution ...
... perhaps a Script or Function that when placed in a row which gets deleted, in turn deletes ALL the text (all the jobs) in the Sheet?! (It's not actually that such a drastic thing. All us coworkers can re-write those projects we are working on - it'll only cost everyone 5 minutes - , but can you imagine how the boss will feel, when instead of deleting the empty rows, she deletes everyone's list of jobs?
... or, not so radically, a script which just turns all the text in the document white - so it looks like it's gone?
... or, if anyone has any other crazy ideas ... :)
I could stick the Function in a column way out on the right side of the sheet, where it won't be seen.
(Just spinning crazy ideas now, because I don't know ANYTHING about Scripts and Functions, but possibly a Function in a cell which forces all text to be coloured black, but the default for the Sheet is white; so that when the cell with the function making all text black disappears, then all text reverts to white?)
I REALLY have no idea. The whole team just wants the boss to stop deleting rows.
Of course the easiest(!) solution would be to ask her to stop deleting rows, but ... she is always right, and we are always wrong, so unfortunately that is not an option.
We are open to any smart, but also any crazy ideas anyone has. If something works, I'll keep you updated.
Cheers, Angus