Excel: Locking cells - how to prevent editing

In Excel, to prevent the contents of individual or multiple cells in a table from being modified, it is helpful to lock them. To set up a lock to protect against editing, it is first necessary to select the appropriate cells.

Excel: How to lock individual cells

If you want to prevent other users from changing entries or formulas you have made, you can lock individual cells in your Excel document. The use of the function is particularly useful when several people are working on an Excel file at the same time.

1. To lock the editing of a cell in Excel, please first select it with the mouse.
2. Navigate then in the menu bar of Excel to the tab "Start" and click on the entry "Format cell".
3. Thereupon a new window opens, in which you please switch to the tab "Protection" and check there the checkbox "Locked". Please confirm the change made with "OK".
4. Now click on the "Check" tab and select "Protect sheet" or "Protect workbook" and, if desired, set a password that must be entered to remove the protection.

Lock cells: To allow other Excel users to edit

If you have locked cells in an Excel spreadsheet, it is still possible to allow certain users to edit. To do this, go to "Review" > "Users are allowed to edit ranges" and click on the "Change" option. Then select the locked cells for which you want to make a change and click on "Permissions" to enter the names of the users you want to allow to edit them.