CHAPTER 9 Flashcards
Locking and protecting a worksheet
Once we have a worksheet with data in it we may want to share our worksheet with others. However, we may not want others to modify the data. In such cases, we want to protect the data.
How to lock/unlock a worksheet
The Protection tab in the Format Cells dialog box offers us the option of locking and/or hiding a range.
a) Keyboard: CTRL + 1 -> p -> ALT + l
b) Mouse: HOME ribbon -> Cells group -> Format -> Format cells
By default, a cell has the property of being locked. By unchecking the ‘Locked’ field, we can unlock a cell.
Format cells dialog box -> Protection tab -> Options Locked, Hidden
How to protect a worksheet:
We can protect a blank cell such that no one can enter data in that cell. Hence, it is more appropriate to speak about protecting a cell than about protecting data. Protecting a cell is a two-step process. The first step is to lock the cell or cells. The second step is to protect the worksheet.
How to protect a worksheet:
Keyboard: Alt-H -> o -> p
Mouse: HOME ribbon -> Cells group -> Format -> Protect sheet
The ‘protect sheet’ dialog box offers us several options as to what we can allow the user to do or not do (Select locked cells, Select unlocked cells, Format cells, Format columns, Format rows, Insert Columns, Insert rows, Insert hyperlinks, Delete columns, Delete rows)
Password feature
We also have the option of entering a password such that changes can be made only by entering the password. The password feature offers some protection against casual or accidental changes to the worksheet, but does not provide for any high degree of security.
We can also hide a formula in a cell by clicking on the ‘hidden’ option in the Protection Tab (in the ‘Format Cells’ command).
The ‘protect sheet’ feature is a worksheet feature. That is, each worksheet will have to be protected separately.
Protecting a workbook
Excel does offer the option of protecting an entire workbook, by requiring a password to open the workbook, and by requiring a password to modify the workbook.
How to protect a workbook:
a) Keyboard: Alt-F -> a gives us the File Save As option
b) Mouse: File -> Save As gives us the File Save As option
Then:
a) Choose a location for the file, and enter a file name
b) On the bottom right of the Save As dialog you see option for Tools
c) Tools -> General options -> gives us the password options
The dialog box, which gives us an option to create a password to open and/or to modify, also gives us two other options: an option to make the file ‘Read-only’ and an option to make a back-up copy of the file. Making a file ‘read-only’ means that we cannot make
changes to the file. When we open the file, we will be asked if we want to open the file as read-only. We can easily override the read-only requirement (click ‘No’). We can also check ‘Always create back-up’. This will make a backup copy of the file (look in the same folder as the original file for “Backup of filename”.
Making a backup copy of the file is strongly recommended for important files. The user may also wish to save different versions of the file by incorporating a version number in the file name.
Making a backup copy is particularly important when running a macro in Excel. After running a macro in Excel, it is not possible to undo (use CTRL-Z) to restore the worksheet or workbook to its pre-macro
state.
“Save As” dialog box leads us to options to:
a) Create a password
b) Make the file “Read-Only”
c) Make a back-up copy
In Excel, we can
a) Lock a cell
b) Protect a worksheet
c) Protect the entire workbook
Which of the following is FALSE?
a) When you protect a worksheet, adding a password is optional: TRUE
b) While protecting multiple worksheets, each worksheet will have to be protected separately: TRUE
c) When using “always create a back-up” option the back-up file is generated in the same folder as original file: TRUE
d) Using a password provides high level of security in protecting a worksheet: FALSE
The “password protection feature” can be applied to:
Either worksheet or workbook
To prevent modification of selected cells in a worksheet, you will need to:
Lock the selected cells and then protect the worksheet
