Workiva Support Center

Sending spreadsheets for review lets users in your workspace view and comment on a particular version of a spreadsheet. When you request a review, your reviewer receives a read-only version of your spreadsheet, allowing them to add comments without altering your original file.

Create a spreadsheet review

You can create a review from the Review tab, History panel, Blacklines panel, or Translate Spreadsheet panel.  

To create a review in each of these locations: 

• From the Review tab, click Review and select Create a Review from the menu.
  
• Send a previous revision for review by clicking the arrow next to a revision in the History panel and selecting Send for Review.
  
• Within the Blacklines panel, select the arrow next to the blackline and choose Send for Review.
  
• To send a translated spreadsheet for review, navigate to the Translate Spreadsheet panel, select the arrow next to your translation, and choose Send for Review.
  

Send a spreadsheet for review

Once you create a review from the Review tab or the right-hand panels, you can choose the review settings and send the review. 

To send a review: 

1. Select to send all the sections you have permissions to or to send selected sections. If you want to send specific sections, select the checkbox next to each section you want to include. 
   
   Use the Expand and Collapse buttons to open and close sections.
2. Select Include attachments if you want to have attachments added to the review.
3. Select which comment threads to include or exclude.
   
   

   Comment option	Description
   Do not include comment threads	This option will not include any comment threads left on the original file or past reviews.
   Include all comment threads	This option pulls any comment threads left on the original spreadsheet and on past reviews. Comments from unselected reviews might appear if you opt to send all comments when creating the selected review.
   Include comment threads from past reviews	This option only includes comments from the selected past reviews. Comments from unselected reviews may appear if they were included in another review.
   Exclude comments added to the review from the live version of the file	This option can be marked in addition to one of the comment options above. Any comments left on the review that is being sent will not be added to the live version of the file.

   Note:  Comment options are not included in Send Translation for Review. You will only have the option to send the entire translation or to send selected sections.

4. Under Details, add a title for the review. This title appears in the Reviews panel after you send your request to help you keep track of the review process. 
5. Add users from your workspace to send the review to. If your workspace has groups, you can send your review to all group members by selecting the group name.
   
   
6. Add content for an email notification, including a subject and message. This content can be used to ask reviewers for specific feedback or set a review deadline.
7. Click Send to send your request. Your reviewer receives an email with a link to the read-only file.

Note: Permissions in review files are set differently from your original file. Requesting a review creates a separate review file and doesn't change the permission set on the source file.

By default, only Owners can send spreadsheets for review. If you'd like to allow Editors or Viewers to send reviews, you can change this setting under Permissions in the Spreadsheet Properties. 

Use the Reviews panel

Once you request a review, information about the request appears in the Reviews panel. To access the panel, click the Reviews icon in the right panel. When you select a review, you can see when the request was sent and who it was sent to.

You can also edit or delete a review using the arrow next to a review’s title in the Reviews panel. To add more reviewers or change the name of a review, click Edit from the menu.

To delete a request, select Delete from the menu. Deleting a review automatically deletes the read-only spreadsheet. Clicking the Open Review icon opens the view-only spreadsheet in a new tab. If your reviewer has left comments, you can view them here.

Review a file

If you receive a request to leave a review, you’ll be taken to a read-only version of the spreadsheet.

To start your review, click Go To Review in the request email.

From here, you can add comments to the spreadsheet or sheets. To add a comment:

1. Select the desired cells within the sheet.
2. Click Add in the toolbar or within the Comments panel.
   
3. Type your comment and click Post. You can reply to comments directly on the sheet or within the Comments panel.
   

When reviewing all comments, the Comment icon in the outline panel shows the number of comments in each section.

You can also use the Comments panel to jump to the location of each comment thread in the spreadsheet review. 

When reviewing the spreadsheet, you can also: 

• Export the content to PDF, XHTML, Excel, or CSV.
• Use Find to search for specific words or phrases.