How to Protect and Unprotect Excel Workbooks [Guide]

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Microsoft Office is a very useful software suite. You can create documents, spreadsheets, presentations, and other software that has the client as well as server-side software. The popular ones are Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint.

Now, yes there are free alternatives available for people to use, but then again, the software from Microsoft is quite good enough in every aspect. The good part about office products is that you can protect your files with passwords. And that takes us to our topic for today. Here we are going to share how to protect and unprotect Excel Workbooks.

Microsoft Excel is popular software that is used to create spreadsheets. It can be used to arrange data in a particular order and can also be used to find the total value of the entered data. Each file is called a workbook and every workbook has different pages known as worksheets. Excel sheets are quite useful in every work, mostly in offices to organize files and main data. Keeping in mind that such information is important and at times even confidential, itโ€™s best to have these files protected. Todayโ€™s guide is all about how you can protect and unprotect your Excel worksheet.

Protect and Unprotect Excel Worksheet

The Excel worksheet can be easily protected by using a password. The password can have any number of characters and there is no minimum password length too.

Protect an Excel Worksheet

  1. Open up the Excel file that you wish to protect.
  2. Now, choose the particular worksheet that you want to protect by selecting the worksheet tab.
  3. Next, you will need to click on the Review tab. It is present at the menu bar on the top.
    how to protect and unprotect excel worksheets
  4. You will see a Protect Sheet button. Click on it.
  5. A Protect Sheet window will appear.
  6. You can first enter your password for the worksheet.
    how to protect and unprotect excel worksheets
  7. There will also be a list of various types of changes or permissions that you can adjust for other users.
  8. Once you have selected what parameters can be modified or changed, click on the OK button.
  9. You have now protected your Excel Worksheet.

Unprotect an Excel Worksheet

Before you begin to unprotect your Excel worksheet, remember that if you do not remember the password, there is no way to unprotect the worksheet. You will not be able to even recover the password for the worksheet. So, itโ€™s always important to keep passwords of all nature in a safe and secure place.

  1. Open the Excel worksheet that you wish to unprotect.
  2. Click on the File tab in the top right corner.
  3. Select Info followed by Protect.
    how to protect and unprotect excel worksheets
  4. And finally, select Unprotect Sheet.
  5. You will have to enter the password if required.
    how to protect and unprotect excel worksheets
  6. Once the password has been typed in the Excel worksheet has now been unprotected.
  7. There is another way that you can follow to unprotect the worksheet.
  8. Click on the Review tab from the Menu bar at the top.
  9. Select the Changes option.
  10. And finally, select the Unprotect Worksheet button.

Conclusion

And this is how you can protect and unprotect a worksheet in Microsoft Excel. Now, this is the same process for any version of Excel that you might be using. From the latest Microsoft 365 versions all the up to Microsoft Excel 2007, these methods will work perfectly.

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AUTHOR.

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Joshua D'souza

Enjoy games, 90's hip-hop, and tech. Loves exploring the infinite world of laptops and food. Every ready to provide assistance in anything that rocks his boat. Will gladly enjoy capturing memories through various lenses. Worked previously at PiunikaWeb as an author and researcher.

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