Excel 2010 Bible

Chapter 31: Protecting Your Work

639

Unlocking cells

In many cases, you will want to allow some cells to be changed when the worksheet is protected.

For example, your worksheet may have some input cells that are used by formula cells. In such a

case, you would want the user to be able to change the input cells, but not the formula cells. Every

cell has a Locked attribute, and that attribute determines whether the cell can be changed when

the sheet is protected.

By default, all cells are locked. To change the locked attribute, select the cell or range, right-click,

and choose Format Cells from the shortcut menu (or press Ctrl+1). The Protection tab of the

Format Cells dialog box opens (see Figure 31.2); clear the Locked check box and then click OK.

FIGURE 31.2

Use the Protection tab in the Format Cells dialog box to change the Locked attribute of a cell or range.

Note
The Protection tab of the Format Cells dialog box has another attribute: Hidden. If this check box is selected, the
contents of the cell don’t appear in the Formula bar when the sheet is protected. The cell isn’t hidden in the
worksheet. You may want to set the Hidden attribute for formula cells to prevent users from seeing the formula
when the cell is selected. n

After you unlock the desired cells, choose Review ➪ Changes ➪ Protect Sheet to protect the sheet.

After doing so, you can change the unlocked cells, but if you attempt to change a locked cell, Excel

displays the warning alert shown in Figure 31.3.