How can students protect their Excel files?
Excel spreadsheets are irreplaceable assistants for students to complete their homework. Some schools even have courses dedicated to mastering this tool so Excel homework help services are popular among students. Trust any of us to handle Excel spreadsheets - you just have to learn Basic rules and functions carefully. In this article we will tell you how to protect files in Excel spreadsheets.
How to encrypt Excel file with password?
Excel makes it easy to encrypt spreadsheets by locking them with a password.
It takes just three simple steps:
- Go to File > Info > Protect Workbook > Encrypt with Password.
- Enter the desired password and click OK.
- Confirm the password.
Important:
Keep your password in a safe place. If you lose or forget it you cannot restore or delete it.
However depending on what you want to protect the method you use may vary slightly.
If you add a password you will need to enter the password every time you open the file.
If you want to remove the password you must follow these steps:
- Choose File > Protect Workbook > Encrypt with Password.
- Remove the password and click the OK button.
- Remember to save the file to apply the changes.
Permit read-only access
Setting up basic encryption is easy but Excel actually offers different options when it comes to password protection. For example someone can open a document but not edit it.
Implementing such a system is very easy.
- Click File > Save As > Browse > Services. Select General Settings from the drop-down menu.
Here you will notice that there are two different fields: Open Password and Change Password. You can leave the latter blank if you want to restrict editing rights without restricting access to the document itself.
Protecting a worksheet
If your document contains multiple sheets you can limit editing permissions to one or more sheets not the entire book.
- Click the Reviewing tab and then click Protect Sheet.
Here you will be able to enter the desired password for the current sheet.
However you'll notice that there's also a series of tabs that allow all users to access certain features. This can be handy if you want them to be able to sort the column without any major changes.
Two Ways to Protect Cells in Excel from Changes
Fortunately there is such an option in this spreadsheet editor. You can easily protect all the data you enter from unauthorized operations. Also cell protection is a great way to protect yourself. By protecting the cell where you enter the formula you don't delete They are accidental.
Choosing the right range of cells
This is the first way to protect cells in Excel from changes. Of course it's not much different from the second method that will be discussed below but there's no way to skip it.
So to protect your spreadsheet's cells from changes you need to do the following:
- Select the entire table. The easiest way to do this is to press a special button located at the intersection of vertical (row numbering) and horizontal (column designation). However you can also use the hotkey by pressing CTRL+A.
- Press the right mouse button.
- Click Format Cells in the menu.
- Click the Protection tab in the window that appears.
- Remove the check mark from the protected cell item.
- Click OK.
So we just removed the ability to protect all cells in the table. This is to specify only a range or a single cell. For this you need:
- Hold down the left mouse button to select the necessary cells using the usual stretching.
- Press the right mouse button.
- Select Format Cells in the menu again.
- Go to Protection.
- Check the box near Cell to Protect.
- Click OK.
Protect the selected cells
We've specified to the program exactly which cells we want to protect from changes. But that's not enough to keep them protected. To achieve this you need to enable protection in Excel. do this:
- Click on the File tab.
- Go to the Info section in the menu.
- Click on the Protect Workbook icon.
- Select Protect Current Sheet from the menu.
- A box will appear where you need to make settings. Follow the guide:
- Never uncheck Protect the contents of worksheets and protected cells.
- In the window directly below you can make more flexible settings but it is also set by default so no one can change the parameters.
- Enter the password in the appropriate field. It can be of any length but keep in mind that the more complex and longer it is the more secure it is.
- Click OK.
Once this is done you will be asked to re-enter your password for the change to take effect. Now you know the first way to protect cells in Excel from being changed.
The second way to protect cells
As mentioned above the second method of protecting cells in Excel from changes is not much different from the first method. The following are detailed instructions.
- Remove the battery protector from the entire table and place it in the desired area as you did last time.
- Go to Review.
- Click the Protect Sheet button in the Change Settings group.
- The familiar window will then appear where you need to set the protection parameters. Enter the password in the same way select the necessary parameters check the box next to Protect the contents of the worksheet and protected cells and click OK.
As you can see there are several ways to protect spreadsheets in Excel. Using these passwords you can share information with other students without worrying that your data might be lost or changed. However we recommend that you always write down and save your password so that you do not lose access to your valuable documents. You can take notes or use special software to save your passwords.
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Before IBM I was an entrepreneur and cybersecurity expert with extensive experience in software architecture and development. I have a Bachelor of Science degree in Computer Science and Economics.