---
title: "Lock Design Mode for End Users"
slug: "understanding-designer-and-data-editor-mode"
description: "Run users in the Data Editor role so they can edit SQL Server data but not change the table setup. Explains the Designer and Data Editor split."
updated: 2026-10-21T11:47:22Z
published: 2026-10-21T11:47:22Z
canonical: "sqlspreads.com/understanding-designer-and-data-editor-mode"
---

> ## Documentation Index
> Fetch the complete documentation index at: https://sqlspreads.com/docs/llms.txt
> Use this file to discover all available pages before exploring further.

# Lock down the Design mode for end-users

### The Designer and Data Editor roles

To **prevent end-users from selecting and setting up tables in the SQL Spreads Designer** themselves, you can let a user run SQL Spreads in the Data Editor role/mode.

In Data Editor mode, **all SQL Spreads Design-features will be locked out**, and the user can only make changes to SQL Server data using SQL Spreads documents created by a user who are assigned the Designer role/mode. ![Designer controls are locked down for Data Editors](https://cdn.document360.io/ad9d65b3-9cdd-4b28-8cb8-86cb149873bc/Images/Documentation/SQL%20Spreads%207.6.3%20Designer%20controls%20are%20locked%20down%20for%20Data%20Editors%20to%20ensure%20data%20integrity.png)

The idea behind the **Designer** and **Data Editor** roles is that you should let a person with database knowledge create Excel spreadsheets for data maintenance, and then let your non-database skilled people use those data management Excel spreadsheets to manage the data.

[![Video: the Designer and Data Editor roles](https://cdn.document360.io/ad9d65b3-9cdd-4b28-8cb8-86cb149873bc/Images/Documentation/The%20Document%20Designer%20and%20Data%20Editor%20roles%20-%20with%20play%20icon%20600px.png)](https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=v9r1r9pPa7A)

### How to activate SQL Spreads in Data Editor mode

The Data Editor mode/role is controlled by a license key. You will need to purchase a separate Data Editor license key for each of your end users that need to make changes to your SQL Spreads documents that your Designer has created.

Contact [support@sqlspreads.com](mailto:support@sqlspreads.com) for assistance with purchasing additional Data Editor licenses for your team.