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Microsoft Office Excel provides several layers of security and protection that allows you to control who can access and change your Excel data. To help protect the data in a workbook, you can do the following:

• For optimal security, you should protect your entire workbook file with a password (password: A way to restrict access to a workbook, worksheet, or part of a worksheet. Excel passwords can be up to 255 letters, numbers, spaces, and symbols. You must type uppercase and lowercase letters correctly when you set and enter passwords.), which allows only authorized users to view or modify your data.
• For additional protection of specific data, you can also protect certain worksheet (worksheet: The primary document that you use in Excel to store and work with data. Also called a spreadsheet. A worksheet consists of cells that are organized into columns and rows; a worksheet is always stored in a workbook.) or workbook elements, with or without a password. Protecting worksheet or workbook elements may help prevent users from accidentally or deliberately changing, moving, or deleting important data.

• Using passwords to help secure an entire workbook

• Protecting specific worksheet or workbook elements

Using passwords to help secure an entire workbook

You can help secure an entire workbook by restricting who can open and use the workbook data and by requiring a password to view or to save changes to the workbook.

Password security at the workbook level uses advanced encryption to help protect your workbook from unauthorized access. You can set a password when you save the workbook. You can specify two separate passwords that users must type to:

• Open and view the workbook This password is encrypted to help protect your data from unauthorized access.
• Modify the workbook This password is not encrypted and is only meant to give specific users permission to edit workbook data and to save changes to the file.

These passwords apply to the entire workbook. For optimal password security, you should always assign a password to open and view the file. To give only specific users permission to modify data, you may want to assign both passwords.

 Important   You should always use strong passwords that combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Weak passwords don't mix these elements. Strong password: Y6dh!et5. Weak password: House27. Use a strong password that you can remember so that you don't have to write it down.

If you would like to remind users that the data in a workbook is important and that it should not be changed, you can have Excel recommend that the workbook should be opened as read-only. You can specify this option when you save the workbook, with or without requiring a password to open it. Users will get a read-only recommendation when they open the workbook, but they are not prevented from making changes to the workbook.

For more information on how to set passwords and read-only recommendation for a workbook, see Set a password to open or modify a document, workbook, or presentation.

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Protecting specific worksheet or workbook elements

When you share a workbook with other users so that you can collaborate on the data, you may want to protect data in specific worksheet or workbook elements to prevent it from being changed. You can also specify a password that users need to enter to modify specific workbook and worksheet elements that are protected.

 Important   Workbook and worksheet element protection should not be confused with workbook-level password security. Element protection cannot protect a workbook from users who have malicious intent.

Protecting worksheet elements

When you protect a worksheet, all cells on the worksheet are locked by default, and users cannot make any changes to a locked cell. For example, they cannot insert, modify, delete, or format data in a locked cell. You can, however, specify which elements users will be allowed to change when you protect the worksheet.

For information on how to protect worksheet elements, see Protect worksheet or workbook elements.

Unlocking specific areas of a protected worksheet

Before you protect a worksheet, you can unlock the ranges that you want users to be able to change or enter data in. You can unlock cells for all users or for specific users.

For information on how to unlock cells and ranges in a protected worksheet, see Allow cells to be edited in a protected worksheet.

Using a password to control access to protected elements

When you protect a worksheet or workbook to lock its elements, adding a password is optional. In this context, the password is merely intended to allow access to certain users while helping to prevent changes by other users. This level of password protection does not ensure that all sensitive data in your workbook is secure. For optimal security, you should secure a workbook itself with a password to help safeguard it from unauthorized access.

When you protect worksheet or workbook elements with a password, it is very important that you remember that password. Without it, there is no way to unprotect the workbook or worksheet.

 Important   You should always use strong passwords that combine uppercase and lowercase letters, numbers, and symbols. Weak passwords don't mix these elements. Strong password: Y6dh!et5. Weak password: House27. Use a strong password that you can remember so that you don't have to write it down.

Protecting the structure and windows of a workbook

You can lock the structure of a workbook, which prevents users from adding or deleting worksheets or from displaying hidden worksheets. You can also prevent users from changing the size or position of worksheet windows. Workbook structure and window protection applies to the entire workbook.

For information on how to protect workbook structure and window elements, see Protect worksheet or workbook elements.

Protecting confidential data in a workbook

Hiding, locking, and protecting workbook and worksheet elements is not intended to secure or protect any confidential information that you keep in a workbook. It only helps obscure data or formulas that might confuse other users and prevents them from viewing or making changes to that data.

Excel does not encrypt data that is hidden or locked in a workbook. To help keep confidential data confidential, you may want to limit access to workbooks that contain such information by storing them in a location that is available only to authorized users.

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