Excel is exceptional for keeping track of companies, something useful when there are multiple shifts or workers. But what happens when there is important content that you do not want to be touched, in this case knowing how to lock or protect cells in Excel so that they are not modified, can be very useful, something that we will teach you here.
As we pointed out, there are circumstances in which protecting the information in the tables is essential. Environments where many people work can be the epicenter for disaster if crucial information is mistakenly deleted or modified from your Excel tables.
Don’t worry, today we will teach you how to lock cells in Excel to avoid this hassle once and for all. In any case, if you want to use another method, you can also consider protecting and unprotecting sheets of an Excel Workbook using Macro.
How to lock or protect cells in Excel so that they are not modified
Locking cells in Excel can be very convenient to protect those data in a table that should not be modified. In general terms, the process can be carried out in a very short time, even so, certain doubts usually arise that complicate the operation for novices.
Why does locking cells become a complicated process?
Many might think that locking cells in Excel is a very simple process and indeed it is. The detail is that the Microsoft program has its tricky aspects and this is where most users make mistakes.
Excel cells are locked by default, or at least that’s how they appear when we check the lines created in Cell Format, since the Locked function is checked natively.
So why is it that if the cells are locked by default, anyone can modify the content? Precisely because to definitely block them it is necessary to establish a password. On the other hand, if this is not what you are looking for, you may want to set an Excel file to read-only mode, another way to protect your documents in this application.
Well, now you might think that setting a password would solve the problem, but no. When a cell protection password is set, this password will permanently block all cells from being edited, which is inconvenient if you want to protect only some specific data.
The solution to the problem, locks Excel cells
As you can see, if you want to lock specific cells, simply setting a password will not help you. To solve this problem, as contradictory as it may seem, the first thing you should do is unlock the cells. Follow these steps:
- The first point is to select all the cells. After this, right-click and locate the Format Cells option.
- A new window will appear, in which the Blocked option appears. As we said before, by default the cells appear as locked, you must uncheck that option and press OK.
- Now select those cells that you want to protect. Once you’ve selected them, right-click and go back to Format Cells.
- In cell format you must activate the Blocked option.
- To continue with the process, go to Review, within this tab you will find the Protect Sheet option, click on it.
- After clicking on Protect Sheet, you will be asked to create a password. Enter a password you can remember and tap OK. You will be asked for the password again to confirm, enter it again and press OK.
As you will see, the previous method will protect the worksheet, before this you should know that it is possible to insert between protecting and unprotecting the sheets of an Excel Workbook using macros, something that could also help you with this purpose.
Through this process you will be able to determine those parts of the document that anyone can modify and in turn those cells that you want to protect. As you will see, the process is very simple, just a few clicks to do it properly.
Stop worrying about your employees or co-workers modifying important data in Excel tables.
With this basic function of the program you will adequately protect the pertinent information, leaving room for the one that deserves it to be modified, in this way you will facilitate the operations of all those who handle the document.
In any case, as we have mentioned before, there are many ways to protect an Excel document, for example it is possible to encrypt or put a password on an Excel file, another option that many people recommend even over what we mentioned before.
