How to Protect Sheet in Excel

Protect Sheet in Excel with Password- Quick Steps

Step 1: Right Click on the Worksheet Tab

Step 2: Select Protect Sheet

Step 3: Enter Password

Step 4: Select the Actions you want to allow the Users

Step 5: Click Ok

When sharing an Excel file with others, it’s often important to protect a worksheet to prevent unauthorized changes. In this article, you’ll learn how to protect a sheet with a password in Excel, as well as how to unprotect it when needed.

Protecting your datasheet helps to prevent other users from accidentally adding, changing, moving, deleting, or modifying data or information in a worksheet, MS Excel can lock the cells on your Excel worksheet and then protect it with a password so that other users can’t open and access it. By doing this you can save your data from tampering. Whosoever has a valid password can access it.

When you’re sending your worksheet/data file you should use the password protect option.

Protection Options

There are two ways to protect your worksheet – 

1. Prevent data entry for select cells
2. Restrict or prevent access to the file
3. File protection

How to Prevent data entry for selected cells

This feature helps the users to access the worksheet and view the information but making changes is restricted only for locked cells. Users can access those cells which are unlocked (cells).

• Locking Cells
• Unlocking Cells

Suppose arrow-downyou want to share your worksheet with other users, and you’ve probably found that there are some specific cells that you don’t want them to modify. This is especially for the cells that contain formulas and special formatting cells. 

Step 1: Select the cell that you want to lock. 

Step 2: Under the Home menu, click on the arrow down option under the alignment section as shown:

Step 3: Click on Protection and check the locked option. 

Step 4: Then click on OK.

Step 5: You must have to protect your worksheet. 

Note: In order to unlock the cells, sheet protection must first be turned off first, then only you will be able to unlock the cells.

Step 1: Select the cell which you want to lock.

Step 2: Under Home, click on the arrow-downlock option under the alignment section. 

Step 3: Click on the Protection tab and deselect the lockare .

Step 4: Then click on OK. Now cells are unlocked.

This feature helps the users to prevent viewing the worksheet, or users can view the workbook but are unable to make changes to it.

Protecting a Sheet

1. Protect Sheet
2. Protect Workbook

You can protect your worksheet from being modified by another user. This prevents unwanted changes from others by limiting their ability to edit. For example, you can prevent people from editing locked cells or making formatting changes to delete columns or rows. Password protection prevents other users from removing the worksheet protection, it needs to be entered to unprotect the worksheet.

Step 1: On the toolbar select the review option. 

Step 2: A protect sheet dialog box will open. Select the appropriate option. 

Step 3: Checked the box that you want the user to access the particular cells.

• Password to unprotected cells – Allows only those users who know the valid password to unprotect the worksheet and can make changes.
• Allow all users of this worksheet to – Checked boxes are aspects that any user can access and make changes.

Step 4: Create a strong password for your worksheet. Then click on OK as shown:

Step 5: Reenter the password in the confirmed password dialog box. Then click on Ok. 

Finally, your sheet is protected. 

Step 1: On the toolbar select the review option.  

Step 2: Select unprotect sheet option as shown:

Step 3: Enter the password in Unprotect sheet dialog box. 

Step 4: Then click on Ok. 

Finally, your sheet is unprotected.

This feature prevents other users from viewing hidden worksheets details, or or adding, moving, deleting, worksheets. You can protect the structure of your Excel workbook with a password. By using workbook protection other users are unable to change its structure, order of sheets of our workbook, and many more. 

Step 1: On the toolbar select the review option.  

Step 2: Click on protect workbook option as shown above.

Step 3: Click on the structure to protect the structure and window dialog box.

Step 4: Create a password for your workbook. 

Step 5: Then click on ok. 

Step 6: Reenter the password and click on ok. 

Finally, your workbook is protected.

When the workbook is unprotected, Users can now change the structure and windows of your workbook.

Step 1: On the toolbar select the review option. 

Step 2: Click on protect workbook.

Step 3: Enter your password.

Now your workbook is unprotected it means anyone can change the structure of your workbook.

Follow the below steps to protect the cells in Excel:

Step 1: Right-click on the cell you wish to protect. Then, select “Format Cells” from the menu displayed.

Step 2: Go to the Tab named “Protection”.

Step 3: Check “Locked” if you wish to lock the cell in Excel. It will prevent the cell from editing, and we can only view the content. Check “Hidden” if you wish to hide the cell.

This prevents other users from accessing data in your Excel files. Users can able to open the file if he/ she has a valid password. Users cannot even view the file without a password.

Step 1: Click on the file option. 

Step 2: Select on info option on the left side menu bar. 

Step 3: Click on protect workbook option. 

Step 4: Now select the option Encrypt with password as shown:

Step 5:  Create a password and enter it on encrypt document dialog box. 

Step 6: Reenter the password 

Step 7: Then click on ok. 

Now your file is protected with a password. Whenever other users want to open it, it will ask for a password first then only it will open.

These are some ways you can protect your sheet from other users. 

What is Protecting Sheets in Excel?

It is available in the Review tab of Excel. It has various features where we can allow users to perform some tasks but cannot make any changes, such as they can select cells to use an AutoFilter but can’t make changes to the structure.

What are the Advantages of Protecting sheets in Excel?

A protected Excel sheet with a password is used for security purposes.

Excel worksheet cell actions are access controlled. It means they can be configured to be available to some users and not others.

What are the Cons of using Protecting sheet in Excel?

If you protect an Excel sheet with a password and if it is forgotten, it is non-recoverable. It means there is no automated or manual way of resetting the old password.

What is the Shortcut to protect the sheets in Excel?

Other than choosing the options from Ribbon you can use ALT+T+P+P in all versions of Excel.