Sign in

Support

Find it myself Select the product you need help with

Ask the community

Windo ws Internet Office Surface Xbo x Skype Windo ws Mo re pro ducts

Get live help Explo rer Pho ne

Article Translations
XL: How to Lock Individual Cells in a Worksheet (‫יש ראל )עב רית‬
Article ID: 214081 - View products that this article applies to.

This article was previously published under Q214081

Expand all | Collapse all

On This Page

SUMMARY

This article describes how to lock individual cells in a Microsoft Excel worksheet. The procedure to use depends on whether
you want the majority of the cells on the worksheet to remain locked or unlocked.

NOTE: If you lock a cell and protect the worksheet, then you cannot type data into the cell, modify the data currently in the cell,
or change other attributes of the cell (such as cell formatting).

Back to the top | Give Feedback

MORE INFORMATION

PDFmyURL.com
To unlock individual cells in an Excel worksheet, use either of the following procedures.

If You Want the Majority of Cells Locked

To lock the majority of the cells on the worksheet, follow these steps:

1. Select the cells that you want to remain unprotected. To select nonadjacent (noncontiguous) cells, hold down CTRL and
click the cells that are to remain unprotected.
2. In versions of Excel previous to 2007, on the Format menu, click Cells, and then click the Prot ect ion tab. On Excel
2007 or later, show the format cells dialog box by clicking the Expand button to the bottom right of the Font section of
the Home ribbon, and then click Prot ect ion tab.
3. Click to clear the Locked check box and click OK.
4. In versions of Excel previous to 2007, on the Tools menu, point to Prot ect ion, and then click Prot ect Sheet . In Excel
2007 or later, click the Review tab, and click Prot ect Sheet . Type a password if you want one, and then click OK.

If You Want the Majority of Cells Unlocked

To leave the majority of the cells on the worksheet unlocked, follow these steps:

1. Select the entire worksheet by clicking the Select All button (the gray rectangle in the upper- left corner of the
worksheet where the row 1 and column A headings meet), or by pressing CTRL+A or CTRL+SHIFT+SPACEBAR.
2. In versions of Excel previous to 2007, on the Format menu, click Cells, and then click the Prot ect ion tab. On Excel
2007 or later, show the format cells dialog box by clicking the Expand button to the bottom right of the Font section of
the Home ribbon, and then click Prot ect ion tab. Click to clear the Locked check box and click OK.
3. Select the cells that you want to protect . To select nonadjacent (noncontiguous) cells, hold down CTRL and click the
cells that you want to protect.
4. Return to the Format Cells dialog box, and then click the Prot ect ion tab. Click to select the Locked check box, and
then click OK.
5. In versions of Excel previous to 2007, on the Tools menu, point to Prot ect ion, and then click Prot ect Sheet . In Excel
2007 or later, click the Review tab, and click Prot ect Sheet . Type a password, if you want one, and then click OK.

Back to the top | Give Feedback

REFERENCES

For more information about locking cells and protecting worksheets, click Microsof t Excel Help on the Help menu, type lock
cells in the Office Assistant or the Answer Wiz ard, and then click Search to view the topics returned.

For additional information about using passwords, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge
Base:
189126 Microsoft's Policy Regarding Missing or Invalid Passwords
For additional information about locking cells and protecting worksheets, click the article numbers below to view the articles in
the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

PDFmyURL.com
 264372 XL2000: Controlling and Understanding Settings in the Format Cells Dialog Box
211710 XL2000: Cells in a Protected Worksheet May Become Unmerged
214337 XL2000: Some Cells in Worksheet Not Selected Using TAB or SHIFT+TAB
213661 XL2000: Unlocked Cells Not Underlined with Protection Enabled

Back to the top | Give Feedback

Properties

Article ID: 214081 - Last Review: February 15, 2012 - Revision: 5.0
APPLIES TO
Microsoft Excel 2000 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 2002 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 97 Standard Edition
Microsoft Excel 2001 for Mac
Microsoft Office Excel 2003
Microsoft Excel 98 for Macintosh
Microsoft Office Excel 2007
Microsoft Excel 2010

Keywords: kbhowto KB214081

Back to the top | Give Feedback

Give Feedback

Was this information helpful?

Yes
No
Somewhat

How much effort did you personally put forth to use this article?
Very low
Low
Moderate
High
PDFmyURL.com
 High
Very high

Tell us why and what can we do to improve this information

Submit

Back to the top

Other Microsoft sites Downloads Support Popular resources

Download center Knowledge Base search Microsoft Outlook Express
Windows
Windows downloads Supported Products list Microsoft Fix It downloads
Office Office downloads Support offerings Windows keyboard shortcuts

Service Pack downloads Product support lifecycle Microsoft Visual C library runtime error
Windows Phone
Direct X download Small and medium business support Windows Installer error: service could
not be accessed
Xbox IT Pro support
Security How to: Windows XP system restore
Developer support
Skype Virus and Security solution center Windows update error message

Security home page About Microsoft Microsoft Security Essentials manual

update download
Bing Microsoft Update Microsoft
Inbox Scanpst.exe
Download Security Essentials Careers
Microsoft Store
Malware Removal tool Company news

Investor relations
Site map

PDFmyURL.com
Unit ed St at es

Services Agreement Contact Us Terms of Use Trademarks Privacy & Cookies ©2013 Microsoft

PDFmyURL.com