Excel Protect Cells

If you develop spreadsheets for others or have spreadsheets which will be shared and you want to ensure that specific cells will not be changed whether by accident or on purpose, you can lock those cells in the worksheet through the use of Excel Protect Cells features.

If you need to lock the majority of cells in a worksheet with Excel Protect Cells you can do the following:

• Select the cells in the worksheet which shouldn’t be protected.
• If you need to select cells which are not adjacent to each other, hold your Control key in while clicking on all the cells which should remain unlocked.
• Select cells from the format menu and then select Protection.
• Now where the Lock check box is clicked, click to clear it and select OK to have it applied.
• Go to Tools on your menu, select Protection and then select to protect sheet.
• If you want to protect the cells by means of a password should changes be made, you can now type in the password and then select OK to have it applied.

If you only want a small portion to be locked through the Excel Protect Cells feature do the following:

• Use the Select All option or use Cntrl+A to select all.
• Go to the Format menu and select Cells.
• Now select Protection and clear the Locked box.
• Click OK to have it applied.
• Select the cells which must be locked.
• Go to Tools on the menu bar and select Protection.
• Select Protect Sheet.
• Type in the password should you want to protect by means of a password and then click OK to have it applied.

The Excel Protect Cells features are showed in a step by step free online tutorial under our training pages. We also include a printable script for the tutorial which can be used for later reference.