Locking a document

Hello Elisabeth,

Hope you enjoyed your Microsoft Excel Intermediate course with Best STL.

Thank you for your question regarding locking a document!

I think it's important to get the terminology right. You are referring to Excel so therefore it is not called a document but a workbook which contains worksheets. The term 'locking' refers only to cells within a worksheet. By default, all cells in a worksheet are locked... and only after the sheet is protected, then no one other than the password holder can change things on the sheet.

So, let's say you created a workbook that has 5 worksheets all containing very important data and lots of formulas. There are several people who have access to this workbook to enable them to update data etc. The biggest problem you have is that some of these people delete formulas or do some unwanted formatting and so on. Then, what you must do is select all the cells that these people are allowed to edit and unlock them (right-click > format cells > Protection > Locked should be unticked).

After unlocking some of the cells, from the Review ribbon, in the Changes group click on Protect sheet. This provides you with a dialogue box to choose options where you allow the users to perform certain actions only. Enter a password and then confirm the password. The sheet is now protected. All sheets must be protected individually.

I hope this resolves your question. If it has, please mark this question as resolved.

If you require further assistance, please reply to this post. Or perhaps you have another Microsoft Office question?

Have a great day.
Regards,

Rodney
Microsoft Office Specialist Trainer