Excel online spreadsheet locked cells open when downloading into Excel

Question

Dear all,

I have uploaded a file onto Sharepoint that opens in Excel online. The file has locked cells (pw protected) with drop down function enabled. Users have the opportunity to download in Excel. However when they do so, the lock seems to have gone. For version control reasons that is not desirable. Could you advise how we can retain locked cells when people download?

John

Answer 1

Hi John,

To protect some specific cells, you need to follow the two steps:

1. Unlock all cells and lock the specific cells.

a. Click this icon to select all the worksheet> Home tab> Alignment group> Click the small arrow to open "Format Cells" window> Protection tab> Uncheck the "Locked" box.

b. Select the cells you want to lock> Home tab> Alignment group> Click the small arrow to open "Format Cells" window> Protection tab> Check the "Locked" box.

2. Set password to protect the worksheet.

a. Review tab> Protect group> Protect Sheet> Set a password> OK.

Then you can upload your file to SharePoint and if an user downloads it, the specific cells will not be edited.

If it is not your scenario, could you please share your steps to protect the cells with me?

In addition, please also share your Office product name and version with me refer to this article: What version of Office am I using?

Best Regards,

Gloria

Answer 2

Hi John,

Is there any update?

Best Regards,

Gloria