Enabling Worksheet and Workbook Level Protection in Microsoft Excel 2007 Documents
The previous article explored the different ways in which we can protect and unprotect our Microsoft Excel 2007 documents. We had a look at how we could lock and unlock the cells containing different sorts of data, graphic objects, and charts. Now, in this part, we will discuss the functionality offered by Microsoft Excel 2007 for protecting and unprotecting the documents at Workbook and Worksheet level.
Workbook Level Protection
When protecting a Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook, you can be assured nobody will be able to modify or tamper with the structure and windows of the workbook. The steps needed to protect a Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook are:
- Select the Review command tab from the Ribbon.
- Click the PROTECT WORKBOOK option within the Changes group. A dialog box titled Protect Workbook will appear, and three options will be provided to you to select.
- From these options, select whichever you require:
Structure: If you select this option, the end users will not be able to add or delete worksheets in the workbook. Also, they won’t be able to modify the order of the sheets withing the workbook.
Windows: Selecting this option enables you to prevent end users from moving or resizing the workbook window.
Password: This option needs you to enter a password of your choice in the text box provided. Further, only after entering this password, will you be able to unprotect the workbook.
- After selecting all the required options, click OK.
- Your workbook has been protected now.
Steps to Unprotect a Microsoft Excel 2007 Workbook
- Select the Review command tab within the Ribbon.
- Click the PROTECT WORKBOOK option within the Changes group.
- Your Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook has been unprotected now.
Remember, if you designated a password while protecting the workbook, you will need to enter the password prior to unprotecting your workbook successfully. If you fail to do this, you will not be able to unprotect the workbook and make any changes at the workbook level.
Apart from protecting and unprotecting your Microsoft Excel 2007 document at the workbook level, you can also enable the protection at worksheet level. Let us see how to do it.
Worksheet Level Protection
- Select the Home command tab within the Ribbon.
- Click FORMAT withing the Cells group.
- Select PROTECT SHEET within the Protection section.
- A Protect Sheet dialog box will appear, where a list of options will be available to select from. Select according to your needs. Mainly, these options are comprised of:
Protect worksheet and contents of locked cells: If you selecting this option, you will make sure that end users will not be able to modify the locked cells withing your Microsoft Excel 2007 document.
Password to unprotect sheet: You need to designate a specific password in this text field. Anybody who wants to unprotect the sheet for making any further changes to it will need to enter the correct password, otherwise he won’t be able to unprotect and modify it.
Allow all users of this worksheet to: A number of sub-options are available in this category, which allocate different levels of freedom to be enjoyed by end users within the worksheet. Various sub-options are included in this category, such as the ability to format cells, rows and columns; insert rows, columns and hyperlinks; and so on.
- After selecting all the options suiting your requirements, click OK.
- Your Microsoft Excel 2007 worksheet has been protected now, meaning nobody can now modify it without unprotecting it.
Unprotecting a Microsoft Excel 2007 Worksheet
- Select the Home command tab within the Ribbon.
- Click FORMAT within the Cells group.
- Select Unprotect Sheet within the Protection selection.
- The Microsoft Excel 2007 worksheet has been unprotected now, allowing others to modify it.
Remember, end users will have to enter the correct password before unprotecting the Microsoft Excel 2007 workbook successfully in the event you designated a password at the time of protecting it.
This post is part of the series: Protecting and unprotecting Microsoft Excel 2007 documents
It happens many times that you find your valuable Microsoft Excel 2007 documents inadvertently changed because your colleagues messed up with its vital components. You can prevent this from happening by protecting your Microsoft Excel 2007 documents at various levels, and rest at peace.