Lock Cells (Excel Shortcut)

- Written by Puneet

Latest Video Tutorial – 10 Excel Keyboard Shortcuts (Probably YOU are NOT Using)

Sometimes you want to have only a few editable cells available for the users in the worksheet and all other cells to be protected from editing.

For this, you have to use the lock cells option so that one can only edit, add, replace or remove the values in the editable cells, and your locked cells can remain protected.

Keyboard Shortcut to Lock Cells in the Excel

There is no direct keyboard shortcut to lock the cells but you can use a combination of two shortcuts to lock the cells as mentioned below:

Ctrl + 1 

AltTPP

Steps to Lock Specific Cells or Range Using Keyboard Shortcut

  1. First, select the cells or range of cells that only you want to make editable to the users.
    range-needs-to-be-editable-only
  2. After that, press the “Ctrl +1” keys together and you will get the “Format cells” dialog box opened.
  3. Now enter the “P” key to go to the “Protection” tab and then press the “Tab + Spacebar” keys together to untick the “Locked cells” box and press “Enter”.
    format-cells-dialog-box
  4. In the end, press “Alt → T → P → P” to open the “Protect Sheet” dialog box and enter the password, and press “Enter”.
    password-to-unprotect-sheet
  5. At this moment your sheet is protected except for the selected cells and users now can only edit, add, and replace the value only in those editable cells and other cells will be protected.

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