How to Lock cells in Excel?

If you share your spreadsheets with others, you've probably discovered that you don't want them to change certain cells. This is especially true for formulas and special formatting in cells.

The good news is that you can lock or unlock any cell, or a whole range of cells, to keep your work protected. It's easy to do, and it involves two basic steps:

Lock All Cells

All cells are locked by default. Locking cells, on the other hand, has no effect until the worksheet is protected.

1. Select all cells.

2. Right-click, and then click Format Cells (or press CTRL + 1).

3. On the Protection tab, you can verify that all cells are locked by default.

4. Click OK or Cancel.

5. Protect the sheet.

All of the cells are now locked. Unprotect a worksheet by right-clicking on its tab and selecting Unprotect Sheet. The password for the Excel file that can be downloaded is "easy."

Lock Specific Cells
 

To lock specific cells in Excel, unlock all of the cells first. After that, you'll need to lock specific cells. Finally, cover the sheet with a sheet protector.

1. Select all cells.

2. Right-click, and then click Format Cells (or press CTRL + 1).

3. On the Protection tab, uncheck the Locked check box and click OK.

4. For example, select cell A1 and cell A2.

5. Right-click, and then click Format Cells (or press CTRL + 1).

6. On the Protection tab, check the Locked check box and click OK.

5. Click Go To Special.

6. Select Formulas and click OK.

Excel selects all formula cells.

7. Press CTRL + 1.

8. On the Protection tab, check the Locked check box and click OK.

Note: If you also check the Hidden check box, users cannot see the formula in the formula bar when they select cells A2, B2, C2 or D2.

Again, locking cells has no effect until you protect the worksheet.

9. Protect the sheet.

All formula cells have now been locked. You must first unprotect the sheet before editing these cells. The password for the Excel file that can be downloaded is "easy." All other cells are still editable.

How to Protect Sheet?
 

While sharing the Excel file with other users, you can protect a worksheet to help prevent it from being changed.

1. Right-click a worksheet tab.

2. Click Protect Sheet.

3. Enter a password.

4. Check the actions you allow the users of your worksheet to perform.

5. Click OK.

Note: if you don't check any action, users can only view the Excel file!

6. Confirm the password and click OK.

Your worksheet is now password-protected. Unprotect a worksheet by right-clicking on its tab and selecting Unprotect Sheet. The password for the Excel file that can be downloaded is "easy."

Subscribe to our YouTube channel for more tech and gaming content