How to lock a cell in Excel formula, well this article is the perfect place to start. Microsoft Office is one of the most used desktop software today, and it’s loaded with tools that without them it’s almost impossible to edit documents, create powerful presentations, creating spreadsheets.

Talking about spreadsheets, Microsoft Excel is been there for the users since the launch of Microsoft Office, and once you setup Microsoft Office at microsoft365 com, Excel is by default installed with it. Excel is by default included in Microsoft Office 365 and Office 2019 and can also be bought as a single application. This article will help you to lock a cell in an Excel formula. So follow our step-by-step guide to learn about the topic and other tips and tricks about Microsoft Excel and ij.start.canon.

How To Lock A Cell In Excel Formula

Exceed expectations equations are anything but difficult to make and alter in Excel.

You can without much of a stretch alter a recipe through the equation bar or straightforwardly in the cell.

While this makes it helpful to make recipes in Excel, it accompanies a couple of detriments too.

Think about this.

You are experiencing a worksheet brimming with recipes, and you accidentally hit the erase key, or delete key, or some other number/letter set key.

Presently you’ll be fortunate in case you’re ready to detect the blunder and right it. Be that as it may, in the event that you are not, it might prompt some mistaken outcomes.

What’s more, let me disclose to you this, mistakes in Excel have cost millions to organizations (read this or this). Also, read How to edit a legend in Excel.

The odds of such mistakes increment multifold when you share a document with associates or administrators or customers.

One of the approaches to keep this from happening is to bolt the worksheet and all the cells. Be that as it may, doing this would keep the client from rolling out any improvements to the worksheet. For instance, in case you’re sending an exercise manual to your administrator for a survey, you might need to permit him to include his remarks or change a few cells.

A superior workaround to this is to bolt just those cells that have recipes in them.

 

So How to Lock A Cell In Excel Formula?

Before I show you how to lock formulas in Excel formula, there are a few things you need to know:

As a matter of course, all the cells are locked in Excel. Just when you secure the bolted cells can you genuinely limit the client from making changes. This likewise implies if a cell isn’t bolted and you secure it, the client would have the option to make changes.

Here are the steps to lock formulas in Excel (explained in detail later on):

  1. Select all the cells and unlock these.
  2. Select all the cells that have formulas (using Go To Special).
  3. Lock these selected cells.
  4. Protect the worksheet.

Now that I have outlined the steps above, let’s dive in and see how to do this (and more importantly, why we must do this):

Step 1: Select All the Cells and click Unlock it.

While you may think that it’s befuddling, hold on for me and continue perusing.

As I referenced, just the cells that are bolted just as ensured can genuinely be limited. In the event that all the cells are bolted, and I ensure the whole worksheet, it would mean a client can’t transform anything.

In any case, we just need to bolt (limit access) to the cells that have equations in it.

To do this, we first need to open all the cells and afterward select and lock just those cells that have recipes in them.

Now that you have learned how to lock a cell in Excel formula, let’s check the other side of it, which to learn how to unlock all cells in Excel.

Here are the steps to unlock all the cells:

  • Select all the cells in the worksheet (use the keyboard shortcut Control + A).
  • Use the keyboard shortcut Control + 1 (hold the Control key and then press 1). This will open the format cells dialog box.
  • In the format cells dialog box, select the Protection tab.
  • Uncheck the ‘Locked’ option.
  • Select OK.

Step 2: Select All those Cells that have formulas.

Since all the cells have been opened, we have to ensure that the cells that have recipes are bolted.

To do this, we have to initially choose all the cells with equations.

Here are the means to choose all the cells that have equations:

  • Select all the cells in the worksheet (use Control + A).
  • Go to Home and within the Editing group, click on Find & Select.
  • Click the drop-down, select Go to Special.
  • In the Go To Special dialog box, choose Formulas.
  • Click OK.

Step 3: Select All those Cells that have formulas.

Now that we have selected the cells with formulas, we need to go back and lock these cells (enable the lock property that we disabled in step 1).

Once we do this, protecting the worksheet would lock these cells that have formulas, but not the other cells.

Here are the steps to Lock Cells with Formulas:

  • With the cells with formulas selected, press Control + 1 (hold the Control key and then press 1).
  • In the format cells dialog box, select the Protection tab.
  • Check the ‘Locked’ option.
  • Select ok.

Step 4: Secure the Worksheet.

Presently that the ‘Bolted’ property is empowered for cells with recipes (and not for different cells), securing the whole worksheet would just confine access to the phones with equations.

Here are the means to secure the worksheet:

  • Go to the Review tab.
  • Click on Protect Sheet.
  • In the Protect Sheet dialog box, make sure the option ‘Protect worksheet and contents of the locked cells’ is checked.
  • [Optional] Specify the password.
  • Click OK.

When you are finished with the over four stages, all the cells that have equations would be bolted, and the client wouldn’t have the option to transform anything in it.

Hope this article has helped you to learn how to lock a cell in an Excel formula. If you would like us to add more information or you believe we have missed something, please let us know in the comment section.