Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. 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.

Protecting a Single Worksheet

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated October 14, 2023)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365


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, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Protecting a Single Worksheet.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Refreshing the Discussion

To keep up with the Discussion, you will need to refresh the comments to make sure you are in-the-know.

Discover More

Using Last-page Headers and Footers

Headers and footers add a nice touch to your documents, particularly if they are printed. You may want Word to use a ...

Discover More

Displaying the Print Dialog Box in a Macro

Want to print a document by using a macro? One way is to display the Print dialog box and allow the user to interact with ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Returning a Worksheet Name

Need to know the name of the current worksheet? You can use the CELL function as the basis for finding this information ...

Discover More

Referencing Worksheet Tabs

Ever want to use the name of a worksheet tab within a cell? Here's how you can access that information using the CELL ...

Discover More

Alphabetizing Worksheet Tabs

As you get more and more worksheets into a workbook, you'll find yourself moving them around into different sequences. ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is 7 - 4?

There are currently no comments for this tip. (Be the first to leave your comment—just use the simple form above!)


This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.