Protecting cells, sheets, workbooks, and files

Protecting cells, sheets, workbooks, and files

Cell protection

Cell has two key properties:

1. locked

2. hidden.

A locked cell can’t be changed, and the contents of a hidden cell don’t appear in the formula bar when the cell is selected. By default, every cell is locked and not hidden. Locked and hidden attributes have no effect unless the worksheet is protected.

To change these attributes, select the appropriate cell or a range and then choose Format > Cells. In the Format Cells dialog box, click the Protection tab and select Locked or Hidden. Unlock cells that accept user input, and lock formula cells and other cells that should stay unchanged (such as titles). To prevent others from seeing your formulas, lock and hide the formula cells–the results of the formulas will be visible, but the formulas will not.

To protect a sheet, choose Tools > Protection > Protect Sheet to bring up the Protect Sheet dialog, and make sure Contents is checked. You can enter a password to prevent others from unprotecting the sheet. Locked cells in a protected sheet cannot be edited or changed, and other worksheet changes are disabled.

Workbook window protection

The Tools > Protection > Protect Workbook command enables you to protect a workbook so no one can add or delete sheets or resize or move the workbook window.

Workbook file protection

Here’s how to save a workbook in such a way that you must supply a password to open or modify it:

Save file using save as or ctrl+s then click on Tools > General Options

Then Enter the password in the password window.

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