Check What Your Row Zero Links Actually Share

Row Zero sharing after the Databricks acquisition still includes public, no-login workbook links for individual Free and Pro accounts, according to its sharing documentation. Business links default to workspace access, while Enterprise policies can restrict or disable sharing. The acquisition announcement does not establish that existing public links have become private. Check your account’s sharing controls and test the actual reader experience before replacing a link or moving a dataset. (Sharing documentation, checked October 3, 2026.)

For an existing public release, the decision is whether to keep a view-only workbook link, distribute editable copies, or export an approved dataset to a separate public page. Those choices have different access and reproducibility consequences; none overrides your organization’s data policies.

Choose your account, audience and release type; check the access result beside the controls.

The Acquisition Sets Direction, Not Universal Link Permissions

Databricks announced its acquisition of Row Zero on September 24, 2026, with plans to integrate its spreadsheet interface into Genie. The announcement says Row Zero will continue supporting data sources beyond Databricks. It also describes governance capabilities including source permissions, automatic refresh, export restrictions and auditable interactions. (Databricks announcement)

That establishes a product direction. It does not establish a universal change to existing workbook access, nor does it mean the planned Genie integration already determines every workbook’s behavior. The sharing documentation is the more specific reference for choosing a link today.

Keep three questions separate: who can open the workbook, what they can do after opening it, and whether its contents can be exported. A link that opens successfully does not answer the other two. Similarly, permission to export a table is not permission to publish that table to anyone on the internet.

If you are responding to the acquisition by reviewing an existing publication, start with the workbook’s present controls. Replacing a functioning public link solely because ownership changed could disrupt readers without solving an identified access problem. Keep or replace the link based on its audience, contents and release requirements.

Account Type Determines the Starting Access Check

Row Zero distinguishes named sharing from link sharing. Named invitations identify recipients, while link sharing depends on the selected access setting and any applicable workspace policies.

Sharing Method	Documented Access	Suitable Use
Named email invitations	Recipients must log in or create an account	Specific collaborators
Individual Free or Pro links	Anyone with the link; no login required	Approved public workbooks
Business links	Default to workspace users	Internal distribution
Enterprise sharing	Policies may restrict or prohibit sharing	Controlled organizational access

The Business default should not be rewritten as either “all Business workbooks are public” or “Business can never share externally.” The documented starting point is workspace access. Inspect the available settings and applicable policy before promising an outside reader a working link.

Enterprise access requires the same care, with an additional policy constraint: an organization can restrict sharing to the workspace or prohibit it. A sharing method available to an individual Free or Pro owner is not evidence that an Enterprise owner can use it.

Named email invitations are useful when you want access associated with specific collaborators, but they do not provide the documented no-login experience of an individual public link. If the publication promises that readers can open the dataset without an account, test that promise using the public-link setting rather than an invitation.

Viewer Access Is Not a Confidentiality Safeguard

A Viewer can view but not modify the workbook; an Editor can modify it. For connected tables, an Editor also needs access to the underlying source or connection to modify or rerun the query. The owner’s advanced sharing options separately control who can create copies and share the workbook with others. (Roles and sharing rules)

Do not collapse these controls into a single idea of “read-only.” Viewer access addresses modification of the original workbook. It does not make confidential contents appropriate for publication, and copying or further sharing needs its own review.

For a public release, review the workbook as a whole rather than treating the intended table as the entire publication. If other sheets contain working notes, personal information or confidential columns, prepare a separate publication workbook containing only approved material. This also makes the intended release easier to identify when someone opens the link without your explanation.

Audit the Existing Link Before Replacing It

The audit should produce a concrete result: either the existing link serves the intended audience with approved contents, or a specific setting or publication boundary needs to change. Record what failed rather than attributing every access problem to the acquisition.

Inspect the Workbook and Its Share Settings

Review every sheet and table for material that has not been cleared for publication. Check the workbook that the link actually opens, not only a screenshot or the table referenced in an article. A separate publication workbook is preferable when the analysis file contains more than readers should receive.

Open Share in the upper-right corner. Inspect both named recipients and link access, then review the owner’s copying and sharing policies. Existing invitations and the public link are different access paths; examining only one leaves the other untested.

For a public, read-only release, use Anyone with link can view where your account and policies allow it, then copy the link. Do not infer that this option is available merely because it appears in instructions for another account type.

Test the Link as an Outside Reader

Open the copied link in a signed-out browser session. Confirm that it opens without an account and displays the intended workbook. Your own logged-in view is not an acceptance test for an anonymous reader, especially when you already belong to the workspace.

If the signed-out session asks for access or login, the link has not passed the no-login publication check. Return to the sharing settings and relevant policy rather than publishing it with an unverified promise. For an internal release, test using the intended workspace audience instead; anonymous access is not the goal of that release.

Also confirm that the URL you plan to publish is the one you tested. A copied template link and an ordinary viewing link can lead to different experiences even when they originate from the same workbook.

State Whether the Release Will Change

Label the release with its source, coverage period and update date. Tell readers whether later changes will appear at the same link. These labels explain what the reader is looking at; they do not by themselves freeze the workbook.

For a continuing publication, make the changing nature of the workbook explicit. For a reproducible reference, keep a separately dated release and identify it clearly. Avoid calling a workbook a fixed snapshot if you intend to keep editing the version readers receive.

Dynamic-Copy Links Distribute the Current Template

Row Zero documents a dynamic-copy link: create an Anyone with link can view link, copy it, then append ?copy. Each visit creates an editable copy of the workbook’s current version, leaving the original unaffected. (Dynamic-copy instructions)

That behavior fits a reusable analysis template. Readers can work on their own copy without modifying the shared original. The relevant release question is whether you want each reader to start from whatever the template contains when they visit.

It is not a frozen reference for a published article. If you change the original, later visitors receive a copy of the changed version. Earlier and later readers may therefore begin from different contents even though they followed the same published link.

For reproducibility, maintain a separately dated release and clearly distinguish it from the current template. Use descriptions such as “current template” and “dated release” to explain the intended behavior, rather than presenting both links as interchangeable downloads.

The dynamic-copy instructions start with public view access. They do not establish that every Business or Enterprise workbook can distribute anonymous copies. Check the applicable access and copying policies before offering that experience to outside readers.

CSV Export Depends on the Plan and Policy

CSV export is documented as unavailable on Free accounts and available on Pro, Business and Enterprise accounts, subject to Enterprise export restrictions. Select the intended range or data table, right-click, and choose Export to CSV. A range containing both ordinary cells and data tables cannot be exported together; data tables need separate CSV files. (Export rules)

Account	Documented CSV Availability	Publication Check
Free	Unavailable	Do not promise a CSV export
Pro	Available	Confirm the selected data is approved
Business	Available	Check organizational publication permission
Enterprise	Subject to export restrictions	Confirm export and publication permission

Public-link access and CSV availability are separate. An individual Free workbook can have a documented no-login link while CSV export remains unavailable. Conversely, a Business account’s export capability does not make its default workspace link public.

When a selection mixes ordinary cells with data tables, plan separate exports rather than assuming one file will capture the entire displayed area. Identify which exported table is the actual release, particularly when the workbook also contains calculations or supporting notes outside it.

Before publishing, verify the CSV header, row count and totals against the approved workbook result. These are acceptance checks for the file you will distribute, not evidence supplied by the acquisition announcement. The draft documentation does not provide a row-count figure for your dataset; obtain that from your own approved result rather than assuming one.

Publish a Separate Data Page Only From an Approved Extract

For an approved public extract, TablePage accepts CSV, TSV, XLSX and XLS files and turns them into public, interactive dataset pages with shareable links and filterable tables. That is a separate distribution choice, not a way around Row Zero’s export restrictions or organizational data policies.

Choose the extract’s structure around the observation readers need to inspect. For a monthly series, a straightforward example is one observation per row with month, region, count and source columns. This is an illustrative structure, not a claim about the columns in your workbook.

Preserve the distinction between zero, blank and missing values. If an absent count becomes zero during preparation, readers can interpret the table differently from the approved workbook. Check that distinction alongside the header and totals before releasing the file.

Record the source, export date, units and exclusions beside the published dataset. The export date identifies the extract; the coverage period identifies the observations. Keeping both visible helps readers distinguish an older file from data describing an older period.

Use the Row Zero link when readers need the approved workbook experience. Use a dynamic-copy link when they need the current editable template. Use a separate public data page when the approved extract is the publication itself. The acquisition does not choose among those outcomes: the audience, permissions and intended release behavior do.