The Chaos of Document Collaboration
Google Workspace is designed around seamless, real-time collaboration. The ability for ten people to simultaneously edit a Google Doc, drop comments, and suggest changes is what makes the platform so powerful.
However, this open-ended collaboration becomes a massive liability when a document reaches its final stage.
Imagine your legal team has spent weeks drafting a critical client contract. The document is finally perfect and ready to be sent to the CEO for signature. But because the document is still shared with the broader team, a junior employee accidentally hits the backspace key on page three, deleting a crucial liability clause just minutes before the CEO opens it.
You need a way to say, “This document is finished. Nobody touch it.”
To solve this, Google introduced File Approvals. This feature allows you to send a document to specific stakeholders for official sign-off. More importantly, it allows you to automatically lock the document during the review process, freezing it in place so no accidental (or malicious) edits can occur while you wait for the signature.
Step 1: Initiating an Approval Request
File Approvals work across Google Docs, Sheets, and Slides.
- Open the finished Google Doc that needs official sign-off.
- In the top menu bar, click on File.
- Select Approvals from the dropdown menu.
- A panel will slide out on the right side of the screen. Click the blue Make a request button.
Step 2: Configuring the Reviewers
A dialog box will appear asking you to configure the approval workflow.
- In the Approvers field, type the email addresses of the people who need to sign off on the document (e.g., your manager, the legal counsel, the client).
- Add a brief message explaining what they need to review.
- (Optional) Add a Due Date to enforce a deadline. If the document isn’t approved by this date, it will be flagged as overdue.
If you have multiple approvers, they will all receive an email notification. Any approver can click “Approve” or “Reject.”
Step 3: Locking the Document (Crucial Step)
Before you click the send button, look at the bottom of the dialog box.
You will see a checkbox labeled: Lock file before sending approval request.
You must check this box.
When this is checked, the moment you hit “Send request,” Google Drive will instantly strip edit access from everyone currently in the document (except the designated approvers).
Reviewers and viewers will see a banner at the top of the document stating: “This file is locked. It is currently pending approval.” They can read it, but they cannot type, delete, or leave comments. The document is frozen in a read-only state, guaranteeing that the CEO is reviewing the exact same text that the legal team finalized.
Step 4: Managing Edits During a Review
What happens if an approver reads the locked document and finds a typo?
Because the file is locked, they cannot fix it directly. They must click Reject (or leave a comment asking for a change).
If the original owner decides a change is necessary, they can click Unlock file in the right-hand panel.
Warning: If you unlock a file to make an edit while an approval is pending, Google Drive will automatically reset the entire approval process. Any approvers who already signed off will have their approvals voided, and they will be notified that the document has changed and they must review it again. This strict version control ensures that nobody signs off on a contract only to have the terms changed silently afterward.
Step 5: The Final Approved State
Once all designated approvers click the “Approve” button, the document enters its final state.
Google Drive will permanently lock the file. A green badge will appear at the top indicating that it is an “Approved version.”
If someone later needs to update the document for next year’s contract, they must click “Unlock” to make edits, which will instantly strip the green “Approved” badge away, providing a clear visual indicator that the document has been tampered with since its official sign-off.