Gwinnett County Public Schools
GCPS Tech Tips
A few tricks to take you beyond
the basics of Microsoft Office
Microsoft Excel:
Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
Did you ever finish putting information into an
Excel worksheet and start thinking, “I wish there
were some way to keep anybody else from
messing up this worksheet.”
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
There is a way to protect one cell... or a group of
cells... or even a whole worksheet from
tampering by other people. If you share a
worksheet with other people, you can specify
which cells they can and cannot change.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
The first step is to select the cell or cells that you
do not want protected... the ones that you are
willing for others to make changes in. Select
those cells...
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
Then... with your cursor on those selected cells...
press the right button on your mouse.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
That will drop down a list of things you can do to
the selected cells. Click on “Format Cells.”
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
That will open a “Format Cells” dialog box with six
tabs across the top. Find the tab that says
“Protection” and click on it.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
At the top of the “Protection” page, you’ll see the
words “Locked” and “Hidden.” Make sure
neither word has a check mark by it...
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
and click “OK” at the bottom of the dialog box.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
Now that you have told Excel what not to protect,
you can tell it to protect every other cell in the
worksheet. To lock the whole worksheet, click
on “Tools” at the top of your screen.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
That will drop down a list of Excel tools.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
If you put your cursor on the word “Protection” it
will show you a list of approaches to protecting
your worksheet.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
One thing on that list is “Protect Sheet.”
Click on that and...
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
Excel opens a “Protect Sheet” dialog box
with lots of choices.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
You put a check mark here
to protect the whole worksheet.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
A password is not required, but if you want to use a
password, you can type it in here. (Be sure you write
that password down somewhere because, if you forget
it, there won’t be any way to find it again.) Of course,
without a password, anybody who knows their way
around Excel could go in and reverse the restrictions
you are putting in place.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
If you do choose to use a password, clicking on “OK,” will
bring up one more box that Excel uses to confirm your
password. Don’t forget that this password is casesensitive – you have to enter it every time with capital
and lower case letters just the way you originally
entered it.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
One final click on “OK” and your worksheet is
protected except for the cells in which you were
willing to allow changes.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
If someone tries to enter anything into any of the
protected cells, they will receive a warning that
looks like this.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
But, if they select any of the cells you left
changeable, they will be able to make any
changes there that they like.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
To unprotect a worksheet, click “Tools”...
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
put your cursor on the “Protection” choice...
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
then click on “Unprotect Sheet.”
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
You’ll have to type in the password
if there is one...
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
But after that, a click of “OK” takes you back
to where you can make changes
anywhere in the worksheet.
EXCEL: Stop Unauthorized Changes in Cells
That’s all there is to it. Now, if you would like a
copy of the step-by-step directions for stopping
unauthorized changes in cells, just print this last
page. Have fun controlling those changes!
Step-by-Step to control changes in cells:
- Select the cell (or cells) that you do not
want to protect.
- Put your cursor on those cells and press
the right button on your mouse.
- On the drop down list, click “Format Cells.”
- In the dialog box, click the “Protection” tab.
- Make sure “Locked” and “Hidden are not
checked.
- Click “OK.”
- Click on “Tools” at the top of the screen.
- Click on “Protection.”
- Click on “Protect Sheet.”
- Type in a password of your choice.
- Click “OK.”
- Type in your password again.
- Click “OK.”
To unprotect a worksheet:
- Click “Tools” at the top of the screen.
- Click “Protection.”
- Click “Unprotect Sheet.”
- Type your password.
- Click “OK.”