Can you lock cells in excel

App Marketplace Connect your favorite apps to HubSpot. Why HubSpot? Marketing Sales Service Website. Subscribe to Our Blog Stay up to date with the latest marketing, sales, and service tips and news. Thank You! You have been subscribed. Start free or get a demo. Marketing 6 min read. Can you lock cells in Excel? How to Lock Cells in Excel Select the cell s you want to lock. Click on the 'Home' tab of your Excel sheet. Click on 'Format,' located on the right side of the screen.

Scroll down and click on 'Lock Cell. Click on 'Protect Sheet. Topics: Excel. Don't forget to share this post! Expand Offer. Now, you can choose the cells you specifically want to lock. This time, on the Protection tab, check the Locked box and then click OK. In the Allow all users of this worksheet to list, choose the elements that you want users to be able to change. Moving the pointer to cells for which the Locked check box is selected on the Protection tab of the Format Cells dialog box.

By default, users are allowed to select locked cells. Moving the pointer to cells for which the Locked check box is cleared on the Protection tab of the Format Cells dialog box. By default, users can select unlocked cells, and they can press the TAB key to move between the unlocked cells on a protected worksheet.

Changing any of the options in the Format Cells or Conditional Formatting dialog boxes. If you applied conditional formats before you protected the worksheet, the formatting continues to change when a user enters a value that satisfies a different condition. Using any of the column formatting commands, including changing column width or hiding columns Home tab, Cells group, Format button. Using any of the row formatting commands, including changing row height or hiding rows Home tab, Cells group, Format button.

If Delete columns is protected and Insert columns is not also protected, a user can insert columns that he or she cannot delete. If Delete rows is protected and Insert rows is not also protected, a user can insert rows that he or she cannot delete.

Users can't sort ranges that contain locked cells on a protected worksheet, regardless of this setting. Formatting, changing the layout, refreshing, or otherwise modifying PivotTable reports, or creating new reports.

Making changes to graphic objects including maps, embedded charts, shapes, text boxes, and controls that you did not unlock before you protected the worksheet. For example, if a worksheet has a button that runs a macro, you can click the button to run the macro, but you cannot delete the button. Making any changes, such as formatting, to an embedded chart. The chart continues to be updated when you change its source data. Viewing scenarios that you have hidden, making changes to scenarios that you have prevented changes to, and deleting these scenarios.

Users can change the values in the changing cells, if the cells are not protected, and add new scenarios. Making changes to items that are part of the chart, such as data series, axes, and legends.

The chart continues to reflect changes made to its source data. Making changes to graphic objects — including shapes, text boxes, and controls — unless you unlock the objects before you protect the chart sheet. In the Password to unprotect sheet box, type a password for the sheet, click OK , and then retype the password to confirm it. The password is optional. The cells can only be unlocked when the sheet is unprotected by going to the Review tab again, choosing "Unprotect Sheet," and entering the password, if required.

There might be times when you want to lock certain cells from being changed but still allow users to adjust other cells in a worksheet. In our example, in an inventory list you might allow unit prices and stock quantities to be updated, but not the item IDs, names, or descriptions. As mentioned above, all cells are locked by default when you protect the sheet. However, you can specify whether a certain cell should be locked or unlocked in the cell's format properties.

Select all the cells you don't want to be locked. These will be the specific cells that can be edited even after the sheet is protected. Cell A1 and cell A2 are locked now. To edit these cells, you have to unprotect the sheet. You can still edit all other cells. To lock all cells that contain formulas, first unlock all cells. Next, lock all formula cells. Note: if you also check the Hidden check box, users cannot see the formula in the formula bar when they select cell A2, B2, C2 or D2.