Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Protecting a Single Worksheet.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 14, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021
Tom has a workbook with a number of worksheets and he only wants to protect the first worksheet against changes. Consequently, he would like to save the workbook with all changes except any made to that first worksheet.
Excel provides the ability to protect individual worksheets in a workbook. Without going into too much detail (as this has been covered in other issues of ExcelTips), you can protect a worksheet by displaying the Home tab of the ribbon, clicking Format in the Cells group, and then choosing Protect Sheet.
If this type of protection is not enough, then you are pretty much entering the realm of macros. Let's say that the name of the worksheet you want to protect is ImportantStuff. (Creative name, I know.) The idea would be to create a copy of the ImportantStuff worksheet as you want it to always appear. Name this copy something like KeepImportantStuff. Hide the KeepImportantStuff worksheet, and then use an AutoClose macro to (1) delete the ImportantStuff worksheet, since it may have been changed by the user; (2) duplicate the KeepImportantStuff worksheet, naming the copy ImportantStuff; and (3) saving and closing the workbook.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (11727) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Protecting a Single Worksheet.
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Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, Excel in Microsoft 365, and 2021. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
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