How to lock cells in a Google spreadsheet

Locking cells in a Google Spreadsheet is important in various scenarios. For example, you may want to prevent a collaborator from editing specific cells within your spreadsheet, such as formulas, critical information, or reference cells. Additionally, you may need to lock cells to ensure that your formatting and structure remain intact when exporting your sheet or copying data to another document.

In this article, we’ll provide you with step-by-step instructions on how to lock cells in a Google spreadsheet.

Step 1: Open Your Google Spreadsheet

To lock cells in a Google Spreadsheet, you need to have a functional spreadsheet. If you don’t already have one, navigate to your Google Drive account, click “New,” and select “Google Sheets” from the drop-down menu. This will create a new sheet for you.

Step 2: Select the Cells You Want to Lock

The next step is to select the cells you want to lock. You can do this by clicking on the cell(s) with your mouse cursor.

Note that you can select multiple cells by clicking and dragging your cursor to highlight a group of cells. Alternatively, you can hold down the “Ctrl” or “Command” key while clicking on individual cells to select them.

Step 3: Click on the “Data” Tab

After selecting the cells you want to lock, navigate to the top of your screen and click on the “Data” tab. This will reveal a drop-down menu with several options to help you manipulate your data.

Step 4: Select “Protect Sheets and Ranges”

From the “Data” drop-down menu, select the “Protect sheets and ranges” option. This will open the “Protect sheets and ranges” sidebar.

Step 5: Set Your Cell Protection Options

Within the “Protect sheets and ranges” sidebar, you can customize your cell protection options. For example, you can choose to allow specific users or collaborators to edit the cells you have locked or prevent anyone from making changes.

To customize your protection options, select the cells you want to lock by entering their cell range in the “Range” field. The “Range” field will automatically populate with the cells you have previously selected.

Next, select the level of protection you want to apply to the selected cells. You have several options, including:

– “Range is unprotected”: This will leave the cells unprotected, allowing anyone with access to the sheet to edit them.
– “Range is protected”: This option will lock the cells, preventing anyone from making edits.
– “Range is unprotected, but certain cells are protected”: This option will only protect specific cells within the selected range, leaving the others open for editing.

Once you have set your cell protection options, click on the “Set Permissions” button to choose who can edit the locked cells.

Step 6: Set User Permissions

The final step is to set the user permissions for your locked cells. You can do this by selecting the appropriate option from the “Permissions” drop-down menu.

For example, you can choose to allow specific users or groups to edit the locked cells while preventing others from making changes. Additionally, you can set up view-only permissions that prevent anyone from editing the sheet, including the locked cells.

Final Thoughts

Locking cells in a Google Spreadsheet is a valuable feature that can help you protect your data while collaborating with others. By following the steps outlined in this article, you’ll be able to customize your cell protection options and set user permissions to ensure that your locked cells remain secure.