We’ll learn how to lock cells in Google Sheets in this article. Google Sheets, on the other hand, has a ton of exciting features that are helpful in many ways when it comes to customizing and sharing your report to facilitate collaboration with your client team. The ease of collaboration is one of the best features of Google Sheets. However, there are other considerations that must be made when sharing. For example, we cannot share a specific section of the sheets. However, if you have sensitive information or a complicated calculation that you don’t want anyone else to change unintentionally, you can use the lock cells function in Google Sheets.
You can share the entire Google Sheets document with others, but if some sections or cells are locked, no one will be able to edit or delete the data. You can lock different cells or ranges for different people when you have multiple people on a sheet with various responsibilities. The entire sheet will therefore be easily shared by everyone, but they will each have a different set of locked cells that they are unable to edit.
Why is it Important to Lock Cells in Google Sheets
For two main reasons, cells can be locked. Locking cells can be done for several reasons to prevent unauthorized changes to a particular cell or range. In order to prevent our data from being deleted or changed, we lock the cells and grant the person access to the editor, allowing them to make changes to the file overall but not to the specific area of the sheets. This method is used when we share the file with someone else so they can work on specific data (not the entire file).
Locking cells can also be done for your own safety. Yes, even if you don’t share the sheet with anyone else, you can still use the cell-locking functionality. Even when we are only working on the sheets, we occasionally have some very important data that we need to be careful not to change accidentally. It is possible to accidentally replace existing data on sheets when you paste new information there. So, in these circumstances, cell locking functionality is also an option.
Cell locking does have some conditions, which we will discuss and put into practice in all scenarios. Thus, it is necessary for us to learn how to lock cells in Google Sheets.
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How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets?
We will see the procedures in this section to discover how to lock cells in Google Sheets. We’ll cover every scenario that might arise when someone locks cells in Google Sheets. So let’s start by using some sample data on a sheets file that is only accessible by the owner, and then we’ll see how it functions on a shared file where different users have different access levels.
- How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Lock Particular Cells
- How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Lock Cells for Particular Users
- How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Lock the Whole Sheet
- How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Give Notice but Allow Editing
- How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Unlock Protected Cells and Sheets
How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Lock Particular Cells
In this section, we’ll look at how to lock specific cells in Google Sheets and learn how to lock cells in broadly. This method is for you if your Google Sheets are going to be shared with everyone, some of the cells contain sensitive information, and you don’t want anyone to accidentally or purposefully change or remove any of the data you care about. A pop-up message stating that the owner restricts the range or cell and cannot be edited will appear whenever a user tries to change or remove it, whether intentionally or accidentally.
Step 1>
Choose which cells you wish to lock.
Step 2>
Use the right-click menu to select “View more cell actions“, then “Protect range“.
Step 3>
On the right side of the sheets, a new sidebar will appear.
Step 4>
This is an optional argument that will help you write a justification for locking this range and will come in handy later. It will ask for a description.
Step 5>
You must then enter the cell range you want to protect in the additional input box below.
Step 6>
Click the “Set permissions” button that is now available to you.
Step 7>
Select “Restrict who can edit this range” as the second radio button, and choose “Only you” from the below dropdown menu.
Step 8>
After selecting your desired range, click “Done” to keep it safe from outsiders.
How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Lock Cells for Particular Users
In the following section, we will explore how to lock cells in Google Sheets and how to unlock locked cells for other users. You can lock cells only for those who are not involved in the file when your entire team is working on a Sheets file and only two of them are not working on it, but you still share it with them so they can view the data. In this method, we can lock some cells and unlock others for those who need to work on sheets. Let’s observe the process.
Step 1>
Choose a range or set of cells, then use the right-click menu to select “Protect range” and then “View more cell actions“.
Step 2>
Provide a description [if required].
Put the cell or range reference.
Select “Set permissions“.
Step 3>
Click the “Restrict who can edit this range” radio button.
Step 4>
Choose “Custom” from the dropdown menu below.
Step 5>
Add editors by providing their email addresses and marking them as able to edit the lock cells as well.
Step 6>
After selecting “done“, click “share“. This will allow you to share the spreadsheet with others so they can edit it, but they won’t be able to.
How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Lock the Whole Sheet
This section will cover locking cells in Google Sheets, with a focus on locking entire sheets. We occasionally have a large workbook with many file sheets in it. We can utilize the lock entire sheets functionality to prevent alterations or deletions of sensitive data on a single or a few sheets that we wish to keep private but still want to share with our partners.
Step 1>
Select Data > Protects Ranges and Sheets.
Step 2>
The right side of the screen will display a sidebar.
Click the “Add a sheet or range” button.
Step 3>
If needed, you can add a description [optional].
Step 4>
You can choose a sheet from your workbook to lock by selecting the “Sheet” tab and then a sheet from the dropdown menu.
Step 5>
Here, you can also select an adjacent cell range or multiple cell ranges specifically to protect an entire sheet, with the exception that these will be unlocked for everyone on this file if you use the “Except certain cells” checkbox.
Step 6>
Click “Set permissions” for more details.
Step 7>
To set the permissions for just you or a specific group of people, choose the “only you” or “Custom” option here.
Your entire sheet will be safeguarded in this method.
How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Give Notice but Allow Editing
This section explains how to lock cells in Google Sheets so that they can only be locked for a warning before the user is allowed to edit them. Therefore, the main goal of this method is to inform the user before they edit or delete the data. Although it functions as a warning message in between the “editing” and “edited” phases, this method technically does not lock the cells. This approach is very useful because it allows us to make changes to the sheets directly when we inadvertently change the data. However, it also displays a warning message so that you can choose whether to continue or go back.
Step 1>
Once your protected ranges are configured, select “Set permissions“.
Step 2>
Choose “Show a warning when editing this range” from the first radio button.
Step 3>
Click ”Done” to finish the process.
Step 4>
You can edit the range, but a warning pop-up will now show up when you attempt to edit it. This pop-up is just there to make sure you are editing a protected range.
How to Lock Cells in Google Sheets – Unlock Protected Cells and Sheets
In Google Sheets, there are four ways to lock cells. We now need to understand how to unlock locked sheets and cells. We will therefore learn how to unlock protected cells or sheets in Google Sheets in this section. Let’s perform each step.
Step 1>
Select Protected sheets and ranges under Data.
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Step 2>
All of the protected ranges and sheets are listed here. If you used descriptions when locking, you will also find the descriptions here, which will help in range identification. The names of the sheets are listed here.
Step 3>
Click on any of them to unlock it, and then select the trash can icon that appears in front of the description box.
Step 4>
To unlock the protected cell or range, click “Remove” in the confirmation pop-up that displays.
Here’s how to open Google Sheets’ protected cells. I hope the tutorial above was useful to you.
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Tips
- When you hover over a cell or range in the list of protected ranges, you will notice a green border around it.
- You can also view the permissions in this list, which include “can edit“, “can edit (with a warning)“, and so forth. It helps in more accurate range identification.
- Additionally, the protected sheet will have a lock icon.
Conclusion
Finally, you have mastered the technique of locking cells in Google Sheets. You can easily improve data security and organization with this skill. You have more control over data access when you lock cells, whether for business or personal use. Watch OfficeChaser for more Google Sheets advice and insights. Enjoy your day and keep exploring!
