
In this case, you need to simply protect the cells that you want to lock and leave the rest as is. Sometimes, you may want to lock some specific cells that contain crucial data points or formulas. If you had used a password to lock the worksheet, it will ask you to enter that password to unlock it. To unlock the worksheet, go to Review –> Changes –> Protect Sheet. Once locked, you’ll notice that most of the options in the ribbon are unavailable, and if someone tries to change anything in the worksheet, it shows a prompt (as shown below): If you have used a password, it will ask you to reconfirm the password. You can allow other options as well such as formatting or inserting rows/columns. By default, the first two boxes are checked that allows a user to select locked and unlocked cells.
#Can you password protect cells in excel how to#

It doesn’t work until you also protect these cells. Protect the Entire Sheet (except a few cells)īefore we learn how to lock cells in Excel, you need to understand how it works on a conceptual level.Īll cells in Excel are locked by default.

Lock all the Cells in a Worksheet in Excel.
