Tutorial Playlist
68 Lessons1. Excel Tutorial
2. Excel Worksheet for Practice
3. Google Sheets Vs. Excel
4. Excel Shortcut Keys
5. Excel Keyboard Shortcuts
6. Excel AutoSum Shortcut
7. Redo Shortcut in Excel
8. Charts in Excel
9. Pivot Charts in Excel
10. Excel Sum Formula
11. Excel Percentage Formula
12. Excel Age Calculation Formula
13. Excel Range Formula
14. Round Off Formula in Excel
15. VLOOKUP Formula in Excel
16. Excel Transpose Formula
17. Average Equation in Excel
18. How to Use DATEDIF Formula in Excel
19. IRR Formula in Excel
20. Standard Deviation Formula
21. Excel Age Calculation Formula
22. Excel MAX Function
23. Excel LEFT Function
24. Excel RIGHT Function
25. Trim Function In Excel
26. LookUp function in Excel
27. Columns in Excel
28. How To Sort Data In Excel
29. How To Freeze Panes in Excel
30. Page Setup in Excel
31. How to Recover an Unsaved Excel File
32. Concatenate in Excel
33. Count In Excel
34. IF Condition In Excel
35. H LOOK UP in Excel
36. How Do You Move Columns in Excel
37. Split Cells in Excel
38. Remove Blank Rows in Excel
39. How To Lock Cells in Excel
Now Reading
40. Data Validation in Excel
41. How to Insert Checkbox in Excel
42. How To Highlight Duplicates in Excel
43. Fill Series in Excel
44. How to Create Excel Drop-Down List
45. What-If Analysis in Excel
46. How to Use SUMIFS Function in Excel
47. INDIRECT Function in Excel
48. Pivot Table in Excel
49. Slicers in Excel
50. How to Create a Dashboard in Excel
51. Excel Data Cleaning
52. Data Analysis In Excel
53. Goal Seek in Excel
54. Solver in Excel
55. Power Query in Excel
56. Macros In Excel
57. How To Make Graph in Excel
58. How To Make Histogram In Excel
59. How To Convert PDF to Excel Without Software
60. Barcode Font For Excel
61. Gantt Chart in Excel
62. Excel RANK function
63. AND Function in Excel
64. How to Calculate NPV
65. Format Painter in Excel
66. Count Colored Cells in Excel
67. Amortization Schedule in Excel
68. Master Cell References in Excel
MS Excel has dominated the software market ever since it was introduced to the masses. However, even if you have used MS Excel extensively, do you know how to lock cells in Excel?
Let me share a story before diving headfirst into the tutorial.
A few years ago, while collaborating on a crucial project in Excel, I encountered unexpected changes to vital data when sharing the worksheet with my team. It had put the entire project at risk and nearly cost my job. The only thing I could think of was, “How do I lock cells in Excel?” Upon mastering this function, I realized its importance in keeping data safe.
For starters, locking cells lets you view and use the worksheet but stops anyone from accidentally changing important information. If you have searched for “how do you lock a cell in Excel” online, this easy tutorial is your go-to guide. Happy reading!
When you share your Excel spreadsheet with others, certain cells might contain valuable data or have special formatting and formulas critical to the calculations. To prevent unintended changes that could affect the integrity of your sheet, you'll want to protect these specific cells.
The only way to protect the vital components in the spreadsheet is by locking the cells in the sheet. You can not only lock particular cells, but rows and columns as required and safeguard them from unintentional changes and edits. The question that arises is “how to lock cells in Excel”.
If you’re pondering over the same question, “How can I lock cells in Excel,” the first thing you need to know about an Excel worksheet is that all cells are locked by default. But this lock facility becomes effective only after you protect the whole worksheet.
Let’s take a look at these simple steps to learn how to lock cells in Excel.
Source: MS Excel
Source: MS Excel
As mentioned previously, locking the cells in an Excel sheet becomes effective only when the whole worksheet is locked. Here is a step-by-step guide as to how to lock a sheet in Excel.
or
If you or any other collaborator tries to edit any of the cells in this worksheet, an error message will pop up like this:
To make changes to the cells in the sheet, you have to unlock the worksheet. Let’s discuss how to unlock Excel protected sheet next.
Before delving into the step-by-step process, here’s a pro tip. You have already come halfway into this guide, so, why not take a step further? You can learn many more advanced Excel functions like how to lock cells in Excel via professional online courses.
Back to the guide!
Now that you have the question “How do I lock Excel spreadsheet” answered, you must also know the way to unlock such a sheet. If you want to edit certain cells in your MS Excel-protected spreadsheet, you have to unlock the sheet to make the necessary changes.
Here is how you can unlock the Excel protected sheet:
Your Excel worksheet is now unprotected. You or anyone else with whom you share the sheet can make all necessary changes in the cells of the sheet.
Initially, in this tutorial you learned how to lock cells in Excel - this implied locking all the cells in the spreadsheet. But can you lock specific cells in MS Excel? Of course, you can. This segment guides you as to how you can lock particular cells in Excel. Let us look at the steps you need to follow.
You are done. The particular cells that you selected in the Excel sheet are now locked and protected.
Once you have locked your worksheet, you can hide certain formulas you have used from being displayed. Follow this step-by-step guide.
Even with the cells being locked and hidden, nothing will be effective till the worksheet is locked. You can learn more advanced Excel functions aside from how to lock cells in Excel to upskill yourself especially if you are considering data analytics as a career option.
This guide on how to lock cells in Excel will help you protect your valuable data, statistics, and other components in MS Excel even when you share it with your colleagues or office employees. Now that you have enough knowledge about how to lock a worksheet in Excel, advanced protection for your data is bound to be a cakewalk for you.
Learning the various facets and features of MS Excel makes working easier and error-free. upGrad offers a host of certification courses not only in MS Excel but also, in other professional streams like Data Analytics and the like. Right from the updated curriculum to guidance from industry veterans and experts, upskill yourself for enhanced expertise and better job opportunities and placements.
To lock specific cells in Excel, you have to first uncheck the ‘Locked’ option in the ‘Protection’ tab (Format-Format Cells-Protection tab). Next, select the cells in the sheet you want to lock. Right-click on the cells and click on ‘Format Cells’. In the window that opens up, go to the tab entitled ‘Protection’ and check the ‘Locked’ option. The specific cells will be locked.
The F4 key in Excel is used to handle cell references. The F4 key helps in cycling through relative, absolute, and mixed reference types. In relative reference, press F4 to change cell reference to the mixed option locking either the row or the column.
The process of unlocking unused cells in Excel will be the same as locking specific cells in MS Excel. In this case, the specific cells will be the unused ones.
If you know how to lock cells in Excel, you can lock rows in Excel similarly. First, head over to the ‘Protection’ tab from the ‘Format Cells’ option and uncheck the ‘Locked’ option. Click ‘OK’. Return to the original Excel worksheet and select the row you want to lock. Right-click on the row and click on the ‘Format Cells’ option. Now check the ‘Locked’ option in the ‘Protection’ tab followed by ‘OK’.
To lock multiple rows in Excel, select the rows you want to lock, right-click on the selection, choose "Format Cells," go to the "Protection" tab, and check the "Locked" option. Then protect the sheet via Review > Protect Sheet, ensuring to input a password if necessary. This will lock the specified rows from editing.
To lock rows in sheets, you have to first uncheck the ‘Locked’ option in the ‘Protection’ tab (obtained after clicking the ‘Format Cells’ option) and click ‘OK’. now select the row that you want to lock. With a right-click you will get the ‘Format Cells’ option. In the ‘Protection’ tab, check the ‘Locked’ option and click ‘OK’.
Devesh
Passionate about Transforming Data into Actionable Insights through Analytics, with over 3+ years of experience working in Data Analytics, Data V…Read More
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upGrad does not grant credit; credits are granted, accepted or transferred at the sole discretion of the relevant educational institution offering the diploma or degree. We advise you to enquire further regarding the suitability of this program for your academic, professional requirements and job prospects before enr...