User Guide

AuditMySheet works inside a Google Sheets™ file you open. Change logs and recovery tabs stay in that spreadsheet in your Google Drive™. We do not send spreadsheet cells or change history to our servers. For Pro, the add-on may call our license service with your signed-in Google email only — see the Privacy Policy.

Get access: Available via Google Workspace when your account has access. Follow Google's authorization prompts, then continue with the steps below. The exact access screens are run by Google, not AuditMySheet.

Install the add-on from the Google Workspace Marketplace. The exact install screens are run by Google, not AuditMySheet.

Open a spreadsheet you own. Only the file owner can open the Control Panel and use recovery tools. Collaborators can still edit the sheet; their changes can be logged, but they do not get the owner panel.

Open the Control Panel: In the spreadsheet menu bar, choose AuditMySheet → Open Control Panel. The first time the owner opens it, the add-on sets up the automatic trackers it needs for that file.

Under More in the same menu you can Reactivate tracking, Deactivate it, or open About. Deactivate stops new logging until you reactivate; it does not delete existing log or recovery tabs.

Select a Critical Sheet (Pro only): In the Control Panel, use the Critical Sheet dropdown and pick one worksheet. The add-on does not pick one for you. Only one Critical Sheet is protected at a time. On Pro, you will see a prompt to choose a sheet if none is selected yet.

When tracking is active, edits on normal worksheets (not the add-on's own hidden system tabs) are recorded in a hidden change log. Each entry can include:

• Time (stored in UTC)
• User email (who made the edit, when Google provides it)
• Sheet name
• Cell or range address
• Previous and new values (where applicable)
• Action type (for example cell edit, range cleared, mass change)
• How many cells were involved

Cell edits include single-cell changes and small multi-cell edits. If every cell in the edited range is cleared, the log records a range cleared action.

Large edits: A single edit that changes more than 500 cells at once is logged as a mass change.

Structure changes on a worksheet can be logged, such as rows or columns added or removed, sheet renamed, or sheet deleted.

Undo: Edits you make through the Sheets interface, including undo, can produce log entries the same way other edits do.

Not logged: Edits made directly on the add-on's system tabs (the hidden change log, recovery mirror, export tab, and recovery point tabs) do not create ordinary log lines.

Scripts and automation: Changes made by other scripts, Zapier, or API connections are not captured. AuditMySheet tracks human edits made directly in the Google Sheets™ interface.

The AuditMySheet menu can appear when anyone opens the spreadsheet. Opening the Control Panel, Reactivate, Deactivate, and About only work for the spreadsheet owner (the Google account that owns the file). If you are an editor or viewer, choosing Open Control Panel will not open the panel.

Editors and viewers do not see the Control Panel. They can keep editing shared sheets as usual. Their edits on normal worksheets can still be written to the change log while tracking is active.

Hidden system tabs include the change log (_CHANGE_LOG_), the recovery mirror (_RECOVERY_MIRROR_), a temporary export tab (_EXPORT_TEMP_), and recovery point tabs whose names start with RECOVERY_. The add-on tries to keep the change log and mirror hidden and limits who can edit them to the owner. Recovery point tabs are shown when created so you can open and copy from them.

If a system tab is visible when it should be hidden, the Control Panel can show a warning asking you to rename the conflicting tab or let the add-on hide it again.

The change log lives in a hidden tab in your spreadsheet. You review activity from the Change Log Preview in the Control Panel (newest entries shown toward the bottom of the preview list). Timestamps in the panel are labeled as UTC; you can convert to local time in Sheets if needed.

Free tier: Tracking continues for the whole file. In the Control Panel you see a preview of up to 1,000 most recent entries and a status line. If more than 1,000 entries exist in the file, a banner suggests Pro for search, export, and recovery — the underlying log in the file can still grow until the file-wide limit below.

File-wide limit: The log keeps roughly the last 5,000 entries. When it grows beyond that, the oldest entries are removed in batches (up to 1,000 at a time, at most about once every five minutes).

Pro — search: You can search logged text and optional date ranges. Search only looks at change log entries, not live cells on your working sheets. Up to 200 matching lines are shown per search.

Pro — export: Export copies the log into a visible worksheet tab named _EXPORT_TEMP_. If that tab already exists, you are asked to confirm before it is replaced. Delete that tab when you no longer need it.

Pro only. Recovery features apply to one Critical Sheet you choose. The add-on maintains a hidden recovery mirror — a copy of that sheet updated as you work.

Re-align mirror: If you think the mirror is out of date, use Re-align Mirror in the Control Panel. The panel may show "Updating — back in a moment" while the mirror is rebuilt. Re-align is blocked while the add-on is deactivated.

When a recovery point tab is created (Pro, with a Critical Sheet selected):

• A single edit touching more than 500 cells on the Critical Sheet
• Removing rows or columns on the Critical Sheet
• Deleting the Critical Sheet tab (if the mirror still has data to save)

When triggered, the mirror is saved as a dated recovery tab (name starts with RECOVERY_, shown in red), then a new hidden mirror is built. The Control Panel may briefly show that a recovery point was saved.

Cap: Up to 10 recovery point tabs. When you reach 8, a warning appears that the oldest will be removed when you hit 10. The oldest tab is removed automatically when the limit is reached.

Manual restore: There is no one-click restore. Open a recovery tab from the list in the Control Panel (or from the sheet tabs), then copy values or ranges back into your working sheet yourself.

If you clear your Critical Sheet selection, the mirror is removed after you confirm. Renaming the Critical Sheet is detected and the stored name is updated; the mirror is rebuilt to match.

Pro is enabled when the add-on verifies an active subscription for your signed-in Google Account. It checks our license service at auditmysheet.com (email only; no spreadsheet data). Results may be cached in the file for up to 24 hours. After checkout, use I just paid — refresh Pro in the Control Panel to request a fresh check. Without Pro, Critical Sheet, recovery, search, and export sections in the Control Panel are locked and labeled Pro only.

Pro is purchased on this website (USD $9/month). Billing and cancellation are handled by our payment provider; the add-on only reads whether your email has an active subscription.

New installs include a 60-day free Pro trial — no payment required. The trial starts when you first open the Control Panel as the spreadsheet owner. You get the same Pro features (full log window, Critical Sheet recovery, search, and export) for 60 days.

One trial per Google account — tied to your signed-in email on our license service (not per spreadsheet). When the trial ends, the Control Panel asks you to upgrade to Pro or continue on the Free tier.

During the last 7 days, the Control Panel shows a countdown reminder before Pro access ends.

Individual install vs domain admin install is a Google Workspace Marketplace choice. Once the add-on is available to you, behavior in each spreadsheet is the same regardless of how it was installed.

What always applies in the file:

• Tracking is set up per spreadsheet when the owner opens the Control Panel or reactivates the add-on.
• Only the owner uses the panel to search, export, or manage recovery.
• Deactivate removes automatic trackers for that file until reactivated; existing log and recovery tabs remain.

Practical guidance: If you manage IT for a organization, an admin may need to allow AuditMySheet before users can install it. Each user who owns spreadsheets still needs to open the Control Panel as owner on each file where they want tracking and recovery configured. An admin install does not replace per-file owner setup described above.

AuditMySheet is for day-to-day operational tracking inside a shared spreadsheet. It is not described as meeting regulatory compliance frameworks.

• No guaranteed capture of every edit under heavy simultaneous use; some edits may be missed when many people edit at once.
• If the add-on cannot obtain a short internal lock in time, a change might not be logged.
• While deactivated, no new changes are recorded.
• Only one Critical Sheet at a time on Pro.
• Rolling log — about 5,000 entries; older rows are deleted from the log tab over time.
• Recovery restores data you copy manually; deleted rows or columns may leave formulas that need your review.
• Search does not search live worksheet cells — only log entries.
• Changes made by scripts, Zapier, or API connections are not captured.
• On consumer Gmail accounts, the log may show the owner's email instead of an editor's email.
• Recovery may be unavailable for about 10 seconds while the mirror rebuilds after a mass edit.
• Sheet tab deletion may take 1–2 minutes to register in the change log.
• If the mirror is not ready at the moment of a destructive change, a recovery tab may not be created.
• Copying the spreadsheet may take a few seconds to fully initialize on first open.