Now we've all spent a lot of time inside of Microsoft Excel building Excel data worksheets the spreadsheets
and lists or tables pivot tables and so on.
You've spent a lot of time getting in there making something look perfect now it's ready to be sent
out to the masses.
All your coworkers or clients or whoever you're sending it to.
Now the concern is when somebody else opens up this document.
I don't want them changing.
Perhaps I don't want them changing anything.
Or perhaps I don't want them changing specific content.
We're going to talk about how you can add protection to an Excel worksheets.
This is a couple of steps that we need to go through.
But a couple of simple steps but they're kind of hidden kind of buried.
And you do have to go through a few steps.
I want to demonstrate it here.
Take a look.
I've got the exercise file that once again comes with this course open in front of you and I'm currently
on the worksheet called worksheet protection.
It's another duplicate of the sales figures for December 2015.
Now you can imagine that this document here I don't want people changing quite a bit about this document
.
I definitely don't want them changing the formulas like clicking on them and typing on them or any of
the stuff over here.
I don't want them changing the structure of the spreadsheet like changing the weak numbers or the salespeople
names nothing.
I don't want them changing any of that.
The only thing that I want people to change is perhaps this weekly data and that's nets.
Maybe this is a template that I've created.
This is something we're going to reuse every month.
So the only thing that people should be changing is the weekly data.
That's it.
Don't change the formulas don't change the structure nothing else.
So here's a couple of steps you can take to insure that people will not change what you don't want them
to change.
And like I said really simple to do.
But as a couple of steps.
My first time doing this I almost felt like it was kind of backwards.
So I'm going to walk you through this by default by default every single cell in an excel worksheet
from a one all the way down to wherever the scene ends.
Every single cell out here has a property called Lost and it's turned on the Locked property is turned
on.
Now that might sound odd because you might be thinking more nodes not you ding a ling it's not turned
on because I can type inside of any cell that can't be default.
I can jump over here and I can say I loop I can do whatever I like.
They're not locked yes.
Yes you're right there.
They're not protected.
They are law.
But it's not actually locked down or protected until you actually tell it to be protected.
But every cell right now is locked.
The property is turned on the way that I imagine this can visually in my mind.
If you walk up to a chainlink fence that's got a gate on it and that gate might have a padlock on it
.
But right now as far as Excel is concerned the padlock is there it's sitting on every single cell it's
sitting on that gate.
But it is it snapped shut the lock is not snapped shut.
If I were to go up to my review tab top my screen and protect the sheet right now every single cell
would get protected and whoever opens this up would not be able to do anything inside in this worksheet
because every single cell would then be protected that padlock would be snap shut everywhere.
All right.
But remember this here's the scenario.
When we get rid of.
Hello here.
The only place I want people to change content is this area right here.
Just the weekly data.
So before I go to review and I protect the sheet I need to remove the lock from the cells and then I'll
go protect it.
So here's the first that I'm going to select the cells that I want people to be able to change.
So I've got what.
B5 down the nine selected.
I'm then going to go to my home town inside of the front section.
I'm going to go to this little icon in the corner a little right angle with an arrow that I click.
This opens up my format cells window.
Now what I think where we're going to go number a lame font border.
Oh look at that protection or go to my protection tab and I'm going to turn off the Locked property
and I'll hit OK.
So now that group of cells from B5 to be e 9 is no longer locked.
We've removed the padlock off of the cells.
That's step one needs to decide which cell should remain locked and which cells should not be locked
.
Now that we've done that I'm then going to go back to my Review tab and I'm going to protect the sheet
.
So this opens up my protect sheet window I can put in an optional password.
I would recommend that you use the password by doing this.
Somebody would not be able to go right back to hit protect sheet and unprotected.
They'd have to have the password in order to do so.
So I would recommend it.
So for me I'm going to put a password in here.
Down below you've got a bunch of check marks if it's checked.
Users can do it once it's protected.
If it's not checked they will not be able to perform those operations.
For example once I protect this people will not be called insert columns Format Cells delete columns
or rows.
Those are the things they will not be able to do.
I'm going to hit OK.
It'll ask me to confirm my password.
Make sure you do not lose this password.
They caution you do not lose it.
You will not be able to retrieve it.
Don't lose it.
OK.
And I've now protected the sheets.
You can see up above it says unprotect now.
But if I tried changing something like I'll cook in one of these formulas and type up.
I can't do it.
A cell or chart you're trying to change is protected right here.
Nope.
I'll come up here which changes from sixty nine hundred to 7000 in my enter key and that I can change
two steps.
Decide what needs to be protected.
Locked her on locked.
Select the cells you don't want protected remove the lock and then go to review and protect the worksheet
.
Like I said really simple to do.
But a few steps to go through.
Remember just think about that padlock.
Where are you going to remove it.
Where are you going to leave it and then go to protect it now for you as the developer of this worksheet
machine is back to 6900 ahm.
You want to get back in there and modify stuff so perhaps you want to protect it.
And this is really simple review.
Unprotect sheet you'll drop in your password if you remember it's OK.
And even now unprotected it you can now do whatever you like with this workbook worksheet.
So try this out a few little steps determine what should be protected and not remove that lock if necessary
and then go to your Review tab and protect the worksheet