【 Lock Cells in Excel 】 Step by Step Guide ▷ 2022

By default, Microsoft Excel is the most widely used spreadsheet program in the office environment, for Present and manage any data stream effectively. Reason why, it has numerous users today.

Thus, many of them use this Microsoft tool to expose a series of data (especially numerical) in order to be able to distribute them easily. Therefore, for security reasons, they require certain options that allow them to protect them and thus preventing third parties from modifying them.

In this sense, to send your data via Excel files and at the same time make sure that no one else will be able to edit them, it is necessary to protect the cells of these documentsmaking use of the program’s own built-in functions.

Why should I lock an Excel cell and in what kind of documents to do it?

Today, just as the Internet simplifies different processes, it can also generate certain risks for its users. For this reason, when sending or distributing a file or any information by any of its means, It is important to take into account certain forecasts.

Faced with this need, Microsoft Excel has been strengthened and has some optimal security options. One of them refers to the possibility of protect or lock a specific cell in a file created from there.

Thus, one of the most important reasons to make use of this function, without a doubt, is that it can help you to prevent changes to the information or formulas entered in these fields. So, in a way, users will achieve keep your copyright and prevent any impersonation in your Excel documents.

Added to this, said usefulness of this program, guarantees the free handling of the document by its creator, solely and exclusively. That is, only the user who locked a cell in the first place will be able to unlock and edit it. Thanks to this, it consists of a function that certifies great exceptionality to data managers.

Now, locking a cell is a function that should be used, especially in those documents that are distributed on the web and in which collaborators intervene, whether they are administrators or editors. Since, they are ideal to make sure that the owners or administrators of the spreadsheet are the only ones with the power to unlock, edit or delete them. Whereas, editors will display locked cells without the possibility of modifying the added values ​​in them.

Steps to lock and unlock a cell and other sections of an Excel spreadsheet

In view of the notable utility that the function of restricting a cell exhibits in any Excel spreadsheet, it is relevant to know each step to follow to be able to protect one of said fields in this program, easily and correctly. Next, we teach you how to lock and unlock them:

Block

In the event that the spreadsheet in question is protected, the procedure to follow consists of:

• Once you access the Excel document, locate yourself in the options bar and click the “Review” tab.
• Next, in the Changes group, click on “Protect sheet” and a popup box will be shown, there uncheck the option “Protect sheet and contents of locked cells”. In case you are asked for the password to unprotect the book, Enter it and press “OK”.

• Now, select the entire spreadsheet by clicking the button “Select all” located in the upper left corner of the page.
• Then, from the Home tab, press the inclined arrow belonging to the Font group and a new Format cells window will be displayed, where you must click on the “Protect” tab.
• After that, it’s time to uncheck the box that indicates “Locked” and click on the button “To accept”.

• Once this is done, all the cells of the spreadsheet will be automatically unlocked and now, it is time to select the cells that you want to specifically restrict.
• Once you choose all the boxes to protect, go back to the “Format cells” box from the Home tab and the group Font. To enter the section “Protection” Y activate the box that indicates “Blocked”. So, click “To accept”.

• Finally, from the ribbon, select the “Review” tab and in the Changes group, Click on the “Protect sheet and content of locked cells” checkbox and then click OK.

To unlock

In addition to restricting the cells of an Excel sheet, it is also possible to unlock all those boxes or other ranges that are protected, so that other users can modify and manage them freely. Next, we specify the step by step that must be followed:

• First, search and access the spreadsheet that you need to manage in this way.
• Followed by this, locate yourself at the top of the main window, specifically in the options bar and click the “Review” tab.
• Subsequently, several options will be displayed and within the Changes group, choose “Allow users to modify changes” which is an option available only when the spreadsheet is not protected.

• Next, if you need to add a new editable range, click on “New”.
• If you want to modify an existing editable range, just select it in “Password unlocked ranges when sheet is protected” and then press on “Modify”.
• If you need to delete an editable range, click on it in the box “Password unlocked ranges when sheet is protected” and finally, click on “Delete”.
• Also, in the Title boxyou can enter the name of the rank you want to unlock.
• Also, directly from the Corresponding to cells box, you can write the equal sign (=) and add the reference of the range to unlock.
• If it is a password access, write a password that allows access to the range, in the box “Range Password”.
• For access permissions, click on “Permissions” and then on “Add”. To specify the type of permission for the user you’ve chosen, in the Permissions box, check or uncheck the Allow or Deny checkboxes and then, click “Apply”.