You can make a potluck sign-up sheet in Google Sheets in about ten minutes: one row per slot, a column for the name, and a link. It is good enough for a small group where every item is a one-of. It breaks when several people share an item or two people claim at once.
The steps are below, then the failures, then a plain recommendation either way.
Skip the spreadsheet. Items get quantities and a full item closes. Guests tap an item and type a name. Free, with no account and no app.
A sheet is good enough when the group is small, every person is comfortable in a spreadsheet, and every item is a single thing: one turkey, one stuffing, one pie.
If you are asking four coworkers who already live in Google Workspace to pick one dish each, a sheet is a fine answer and you do not need anything else. Check one thing first: that everyone you invite can open and edit the file from the device they will actually use, because a sheet that half the group cannot open is worse than no sheet.
Open a new sheet and make one row per slot, not one row per person. That single choice avoids most of the overwriting problems below.
Use these columns, then fill in the first column yourself.
A starter layout for a potluck sheet. One row per slot.
| Column | What goes in it |
|---|---|
| A: Item | One slot per row, such as "Stuffing" or "Pie 1", "Pie 2", "Pie 3" |
| B: Name | Left empty. The person who claims the slot types their name |
| C: Note | Optional: "Gluten free", a recipe link, or what they are making |
Open the share settings and choose who can edit. Anyone who can edit can change any cell, including the ones that are not theirs, so only give edit access to people you trust.
Post the link in your group chat and ask people to type their name next to one open row. If you want a cleaner start, freeze the top row and shade the cells people should fill.
Three things go wrong, and all three come from a sheet being plain cells.
By default a form collects answers privately, so people filling it in do not see what others already picked. That defeats the point of a sign-up, unless you show the results back to them yourself.
Google's help page says limiting a form to one response per person requires respondents to sign in to a Google Account. That is exactly the step you wanted to avoid for relatives who skip accounts.
Open it two days before and read it as a guest would. Look for rows with no name, names in the wrong column and two rows that claim the same dish.
Then message the people whose rows are empty. A sheet will not remind anyone, so the check is also your reminder. If the sheet has been edited by mistake, Google keeps a version history you can use to see what changed, so look there first.
Use the sheet when the group is small, every item is a one-of, and everybody knows spreadsheets. Use a sign-up page when items have quantities, when guests are a mix of ages and habits, or when a double claim would actually cost you a dish.
A sign-up page sets a quantity per item, shows who has what, and closes an item when it is full. Guests tap an item and type a name. The best potluck sign-up tools page compares the options, and the Friendsgiving sign-up sheet page shows an example.
Skip the spreadsheet. Items get quantities and a full item closes. Guests tap an item and type a name. Free, with no account and no app.
Many exist, but you can build one in minutes: columns for item, name and note, with one row per slot. The risk is double claims and overwrites. Junto offers a quantity-aware page instead, where a full item closes. Start with the layout on this page, or try the other if your items have numbers.
You cannot fully stop it. Give edit access only to people you trust, use one row per slot, and check the sheet before the day. A tool like Junto removes the problem because guests only tap an item and type a name, and the organizer can fix entries. Choose by how much risk you accept.
Not as a lock. You can write the limit in a cell and add a formula that shows what is left, but the sheet will not stop a sixth person. Junto closes an item when it is fully claimed, so two people cannot over-claim. Use rows for each unit if you stay in Sheets.
It depends on how you share it, so check your sharing setting before you post the link. Google Forms requires sign-in when you limit responses to one per person. Junto asks guests only for a name and needs no account. Test your link in a private browser window before you send it.
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Last updated 2026-11-03