How do I use Excel to block users from using cells?

Sometimes it is important to block users from parts of a spreadsheet so that they cannot accidentally edit the document. Without realising it, a user of a spreadsheet can type over important formulas preventing the sheet from calculating results correctly.

In Excel preventing these kind of accidents is managed by protecting important cells on a worksheet. To the end user when protection is enabled the result is certain cells can no longer be edited. Whole sheets of sensitive information can be hidden completely if required.

In normal use of Excel we can edit any cell in a sheet. This is because protection is not turned on by default. Interestingly all cells on a worksheet have their 'locked' setting ticked, ready for when you want to apply protection to your sheet.

You can see this if you right-click on any cell in a worksheet, choose Format Cells then click the Protection tab. All cells have the locked setting ticked. This doesn't affect the end user because the overall protection feature is not active.

When you do need to enable protection on a worksheet first decide which cells you would like your users to edit. Select these cells and set their protection setting to be unlocked.

This means that when protection is enabled in the workbook only these 'unlocked' cells will be editable. Everything else will be protected from edits.

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