Session 10 - Don't forget your Protection

I know we have completed Excel, but I just thought that I would quickly cover one last thing before we put it away.

Protection

Some of you may have already had "the talk" and be aware of the protection, but there may be a couple who haven't so this is a quick and nasty version.

Why Protection? The best reason to use protection (apart from the obvious) is so that all the great work you have done in preparing, formatting, and perfecting your spreadsheet is not ruined by someone putting information in the wrong spot.

By default, all of the cells in Excel are "protected", so if you want people to be able to edit cells, you need to unprotect them or unlock them. Any protection that is applied to individual cells is not enforced until the actual spreadsheet is protected.

To unprotect the cells, use Format Cells.

Once you have unprotected the cells that YOU want people to be ABLE to access - protect the sheet.

There are a few different levels of protection that you can apply. You will find these under Review.

OR from the Home Ribbon

 

You can be very specific about what you will allow others (or yourself) to change when using the spreadsheet and you can set a password which must be entered before the spreadsheet can be unprotected. Stay safe people!!