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Or, right click the sheet tab and select Protect Sheet… in the context menu. On the Review tab, in the Changes group, click the Protect Sheet button. This can be confusing, but Microsoft designed it this way, and we have to play by their rules :) Locking cells in Excel has no effect until you protect the worksheet. With the required cells selected, press Ctrl + 1 to open the Format Cells dialog (or right-click the selected cells and click Format Cells), switch to the Protection tab, and check the Locked checkbox.
LOCK INDIVIDUAL CELLS IN EXCEL 2010 HOW TO
For the detailed guidance with screenshots, please see How to lock and hide formulas in Excel.
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In the Go To Special dialog box, check the Formulas radio button, and click OK. To lock all cells with formulas, go to the Home tab > Editing group > Find & Select > Go To Special. To protect rows in Excel, select them in a similar manner.
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That is why, in order to lock certain cells in Excel, you need to unlock all cells first. Unlock all cells on the sheet.īy default, the Locked option is enabled for all cells on the sheet. The detailed steps to lock cells in Excel 2010, Excel 2013 and Excel 2016 follow below. If you don't want to lock all cells on the sheet, but rather want to protect certain cells from overwriting, deleting or editing, you will need to unlock all cells first, then lock those specific cells, and then protect the sheet. Because the Locked attributed is selected for all cells by default, protecting the sheet automatically locks cells.
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Locking all cells on an Excel sheet is easy - you just need to protect the sheet. Find and highlight locked / unlocked cells in Excel.Lock all cells on a sheet except for input cells.How to unlock individual cells on a protected sheet.How to unlock all cells on a sheet (unprotect a sheet).In other words, you may want to only lock a cell or range that shouldn't be changed. Instead, you can lock only specific cells, columns or rows, and leave all other cells unlocked.įor example, you can allow your users to input and edit the source data, but protect cells with formulas that calculate that data. However, in some cases you may not want to go that far and lock the entire sheet. In last week's tutorial, you learned how to protect Excel sheets to prevent accidental or deliberate changes in the sheet contents. And finally, you will learn how to detect and highlight locked and unlocked cells in Excel.
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It also shows how to unlock individual cells on a protected sheet by a password, or allow specific users to edit those cells without password. The tutorial explains how to lock a cell or certain cells in Excel to protect them from deleting, overwriting or editing.
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