Protect Workbook in Excel

How to Protect an Excel Workbook?

Protecting excel workbooks is a method where we protect the entire workbook rather than a single sheet, it means protecting the whole structure of the workbook, if a workbook is protected with a password no other user can insert a new sheet or delete any sheet neither they can view the hidden sheets or even change the name of the worksheets in the workbook.

Follow the below steps to learn how to protect a workbook.

• Step 1: Go to the Files tab and click on it.

• Step 2: Once we click on the File tab, we can see various options. In the info section, we can see a box to protecting the workbook.

It says that the structure of the workbook is locked to prevent any changes.

• If the workbook is not protected, the message would be as follows:

Example of Protecting a Workbook in Excel

First, we will try to protect a workbook as a whole so that nobody can make any change in any of the worksheets or any cells without any password.

In this example, I am using excel version 2013, so I will protect the structure of the workbook and then try to change the name of the worksheet 3, which I have named as Anand, but I want to change its name to Aran.

This is actually very simple.

1) In the review tab, under the changes section, click on Protect workbook.

2) A dialog box pops up.

3) We will enter the same password, “EDUCBA,” to protect our excel workbook and click on OK.

4) It asks us to Re-enter the password, and when we click on ok, the whole workbook is protected.

5) Now, let us see what the original name of sheet 3 was earlier.

6) As we know that the workbook is protected, first try to double click on the sheet name we get the following display message.

7) We can also try to right-click on sheet 3 to see if we can change the sheet name by that method.

We can see that the rename option insert delete or move and copy option has been disabled as we have protected the workbook.

8) We can also try to add a new worksheet from the plus sign beside the worksheet named ANAND, but we can see that we cannot as the + sign is disabled.

After protecting the structure of the workbook, any user cannot do changes in the structure of the protected workbook.

Things to Remember

1. Protecting workbooks is different from protecting worksheets.
2. In excel version 2013 and above, we can only protect the structure of the workbook as the windows resize option Is disabled in the later versions.
3. In excel version 2010 and below, we can protect both structure and windows size options as resize available in the previous versions of Excel.
4. It is advised to protect an excel workbook with a password so that any other user cannot unprotect it easily and change the structure of the workbook.
5. It is also advised to remember the password as once the password is lost; the excel workbook cannot be unprotected again.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Protect Workbook in Excel. Here we learn how to Protect Workbook in Excel along with practical examples and downloadable excel template. You may learn more about excel from the following articles –

• Excel VBA UnProtect Sheet
• Excel Add Bullet Points
• Column Lock Excel
• Lock Cells Excel
• Insert (Embed) an Object in Excel