How to Protect a Workbook in Excel 2016

Edited 2 weeks ago by ExtremeHow Editorial Team

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Microsoft Excel 2016 is a powerful tool used to manage, analyze, and visualize data. It offers a wide range of features that users can use to work effectively with their data. One important feature that Excel offers is the ability to protect workbooks. Protecting a workbook is essential to maintaining the integrity and confidentiality of the data it contains. Whether you are working with sensitive data or a collaborative project, it can be important to understand how to protect your Excel workbook. Below, we will explore in detail how you can protect a workbook in Excel 2016, why it is necessary to do so, and the various methods available for protection.

Understanding workbook protection

Before diving into the how-to, it's important to understand what workbook protection means in the context of Excel 2016. Workbook protection is a feature that prevents others from making changes to the structure of your workbook or accessing the content. Excel 2016 allows you to protect your workbook at different levels, from protecting the entire workbook to protecting only specific sheets or ranges of cells within the workbook.

Types of protection

• Protecting the workbook structure: This type of protection prevents users from making changes to the structure of the workbook, such as moving, hiding, deleting, or adding sheets. This is useful when you want to retain the existing layout of the workbook.
• Protecting a worksheet: This involves protecting the contents of a worksheet, preventing users from editing, formatting, or deleting data. This is especially useful when specific data on a sheet must remain unchanged.
• Protecting ranges: When you need to protect only specific ranges of cells within a worksheet, you can apply protection to those ranges. This gives more granular control over what users can edit.

Steps to protect a workbook in Excel 2016

Now that we understand the importance of protecting a workbook, let's discuss the steps you can follow to protect your Excel 2016 workbook. You can use Excel's built-in features to set different levels of protection. We will look at each method step-by-step.

Protecting the entire workbook structure

1. Open the Excel workbook that you want to protect.
2. Click the Review tab in the Excel ribbon.
3. In the Review tab, find the Protect Workbook button. Click it.
4. A dialog box will appear showing the "Secure Structure and Windows" options.
5. Make sure the Structure checkbox is checked. You can also choose to secure the windows, but this is optional.
6. If you want, enter a password to ensure that only authorized users can disable protection. When doing this, you will need to confirm by entering your password again when prompted.
7. Click OK to apply the protection.

Once the workbook structure is protected, users will not be able to add, delete, or rearrange sheets in the workbook.

Protecting a worksheet

1. Select the worksheet you want to protect.
2. Go to the Review tab in the Excel ribbon.
3. In the Changes group, click Protect Sheet.
4. In the dialog box that appears, you can set specific options for protection. You may want to allow users to select locked cells, select unlocked cells, or perform other operations such as sorting or formatting cells.
5. Enter a password if desired and confirm it when prompted.
6. Click OK to apply the protection.

By protecting a worksheet, only the formatting and operations you allow in the dialog box will be able to be performed by users accessing the sheet.

Specific range protection

1. Start by selecting the range of cells you want to protect.
2. Right-click the selection, and choose Format Cells.
3. In the Format Cells dialog, go to the Protection tab.
4. If you want to protect cells, make sure the Locked option is checked. By default, all cells are locked; however, this is only effective when the worksheet is protected.
5. Next, go to the Review tab and click Allow users to edit ranges.
6. A new dialog will open, click New to allow users to edit specific categories if needed.
7. Set limits, set permissions, and password protect it if you want.
8. After setting the permissions, click Apply.
9. Finally, save the worksheet as described in the previous section to apply these settings.

With these steps, only authorized users can edit specified ranges, while other parts of your worksheet remain protected.

Advanced security options

Excel 2016 also allows users to use advanced security settings to protect their workbooks, such as encrypting with a digital signature and password. Let's take a look at these advanced options:

Encrypting a workbook with a password

1. Open the workbook that you want to encrypt.
2. Go to the File menu, then choose Info.
3. Click Protect Workbook to expand the menu.
4. Select Encrypt with password.
5. Enter the password in the Encryption dialog box and confirm it when prompted.
6. Click OK to encrypt the workbook.

Encrypting a workbook with a password ensures that only users with the correct password can open the file. It is important to remember the password or store it safely because losing it means losing access to the workbook.

Adding a digital signature

Adding a digital signature to your Excel workbook is another way to protect and verify the authenticity of your document. Here's how to do it:

1. Go to the File menu, then click Info.
2. Select Protect Workbook, and then select Add Digital Signature.
3. A dialog box will appear. Follow the prompts to add a digital certificate. You may need a digital certificate before you can complete this step.
4. Once that's done, save your workbook to retain the digital signature.

Digital signatures provide an additional layer of security by ensuring that no changes are made to the document after it has been signed.

Best practices for workbook protection

In addition to the steps mentioned above, here are some additional best practices to ensure maximum security for your Excel workbooks:

• Back up data regularly: Having a backup ensures that you won’t lose data due to corruption or unauthorized changes.
• Use complex passwords: When password-protecting your workbook, use strong, complex passwords that are difficult to guess.
• Control access: Share your workbook only with trusted individuals and set clear access controls.
• Keep software up to date: Make sure your Excel 2016 software and its associated security features are up to date.

By following these practices, you can substantially increase the security of your Excel workbooks.

Conclusion

Workbook protection is an invaluable feature of Excel 2016 that helps keep your data secure and maintain its integrity. Whether you are protecting the workbook structure, specific worksheets, or predefined ranges, understanding how to apply these protections ensures that your data remains safe. By using advanced options such as encryption and digital signatures, you can further enhance the confidentiality and authenticity of your Excel documents.

Ultimately, implementing these methods and best practices not only protects your work but also provides peace of mind knowing that your data is protected from unauthorized access and changes. Knowing how to keep Excel workbooks secure is an essential skill, especially in environments where sensitive data is frequently handled and shared.

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