This article explains how to lock cells in Excel. Locking cells means to prevent them from being edited or changed by others. This is useful when you want to protect your data or formulas from accidental or unauthorized modifications. For example, you can lock cells that contain important information or calculations that you don’t want anyone to alter.
To lock cells in Excel, you need to follow these steps:
- Select the cells that you want to lock. You can select a single cell, a range of cells, a row, a column, or the entire worksheet.
- Right-click on your selection and choose Format Cells from the context menu. A dialog box will appear where you can change the formatting options for your cells.
- Go to the Protection tab and check the box that says Locked. This will mark your cells as locked. Click OK to apply the changes.
- Go to the Review tab on the ribbon and click on Protect Sheet in the Changes group. A dialog box will appear where you can set a password and permissions for your worksheet.
- Enter a password that you want to use to unlock your cells. You can also choose which actions you want to allow users to perform on your worksheet, such as selecting, formatting, inserting, deleting, sorting, or filtering. By default, all actions are disabled except selecting unlocked cells.
- Click OK to protect your worksheet. You will be asked to confirm your password. Enter it again and click OK.
This is how you can lock cells in Excel. Your cells will now be protected from editing or changing by anyone who doesn’t have the password. To unlock your cells, you need to go to the Review tab and click on Unprotect Sheet. You will be asked to enter your password and then click OK.
This article has shown how to lock cells in Excel. Locking cells can help you to secure your data and formulas from unwanted changes. However, you should be careful about choosing a strong password and remembering it.