The more people in your Notion workspace, the greater the chance that someone accidentally edits your databases. This could cause data inconsistencies to creep in, impacting the whole team.
For example, if someone were to mistakenly edit a number in your marketing database, it could disrupt formulas and result in the team making decisions based on faulty data. It could have a direct impact on revenue.
Notion provides many features to prevent such errors. It enables you to grant three different levels of access: Edit, Comment, and View to the members of the workspace. This ensures that only users with Full or Edit access to the database can make changes.
However, even users with appropriate access levels can erroneously edit the database. By locking your database, you can ensure that no accidental edits are possible. If the users with Edit access need to intentionally modify the database, they can unlock the database, make the changes, and then lock it again.
In our example of the marketing dashboard, the marketing analytics team can lock the database, enforcing a view-only access for all users, unless someone unlocks and changes something. You can capture all activities through the version history.
Here’s how to lock a Notion database:
1. Open the database as a full page
We will use the Notion budget tracker below to demonstrate the process of locking a database.
2. Click the three-dots icon at the top-right of the page and then click the toggle
3. You have successfully locked your Notion database
The gray Locked label that appears next to the name of the page indicates that the database is unavailable for editing unless someone with access unlocks it.
4. Get notified when someone edits the database
Notion provides many safeguarding features to prevent accidental editing of databases. Automation is another feature that promotes prompt fixing of an accidental update in a Notion database.
By setting up Notion database automation, you can trigger Slack notifications to individuals or groups, every time a database is edited. If you were unaware of any upcoming edits, a notification could inform you in time to investigate and ensure that the edits were intentional.
FAQs
What does it mean to lock a database in Notion?
By locking a Notion database, you can prevent accidental edits by forcing users to unlock the database to make any changes. Only those users who have Edit access can unlock the database and they have to unlock the database to make intentional edits. This almost nullifies the chances of accidentally editing the database, preventing discrepancies.
How to unlock a database in Notion?
Users with Edit access can unlock the Notion database by clicking the Locked label next to the file name. This changes the label to Re-lock.
It is important to keep your data secure not just from unauthorized access but also from errors caused by authorized users. By locking your Notion database, you protect it from unintentional edits, keeping your data safe and consistent.
