How to protect cells

  • Thread starter Thread starter NV
  • Start date Start date
N

NV

This seems like it should be simple.....but I can't get it
to work.

I want to protect certain cells within a worksheet that
have formulas in them. How can I do that?
 
Lock the cell and then protect the worksheet. By default
all cells are locked, so you want to unlock cells where
you enter data.
JC
 
All cells are locked, ie protected if you protect the worksheet by default.
That is is to say, if you protect the worksheet, with or without a password,
all cells will be locked and a user cannot change them.
To allow changes in a protected worksheet, right click the cells you require
Protection Tab and Uncheck 'Locked' then protect the sheet.
Click to expand...

To protect only cells that contain formulas, highlight the whole sheet or
the area that concerns you, right click > Protection and uncheck 'Locked'
Go Edit > Goto > Special > Check 'Formulas' This will highlight all cells
that contain formulas. Right click one of them, Format Cells > Protection >
Check 'Locked' > OK
Regards,
 
Excel works backwards in this way. It's not intuitive.

Try this.

Highlight the entire spreadsheet by clicking the gray box
to the left of column A and above row 1.

From the menu select Format, Cells.

The choose the Protection tab.

Uncheck the box next to the word Locked.

Now go back to your spreadsheet and area by area
highlight the areas that you want protected, and go back
in and lock those cells. The areas where you will allow
data input will remain unlocked.

Then from the main menu select Tools, Protection, Protect
Sheet.
 
You could download the third party tool: AddinTools Assist from
http://www.addintools.com. It will temporarily display unlocked cells and
locked cells with different background colors. You will find out which are
locked cells, which are unlocked cells immediately. The "To Lock" button and
"To Unlock" button could lock or unlock the selected cell immediately. In
this way, you can decide fast which part of spreadsheet allows changing, and
which part disallows.
The function is very useful when you have forgotten which cells are locked
in a workbook or sheet.
 
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