How to hide and protect formulas not displayed in the formula bar in Excel?

In Excel, it’s often necessary to hide formulas from being displayed in the formula bar, especially when sharing files or working with sensitive data. By hiding formulas, you can protect them from being viewed or modified, ensuring the integrity of your data. This article will guide you through the process of hiding formulas in Excel and provide some optimization tips to enhance the security and usability of your workbooks.

Why Hide Formulas in Excel?

Hide and protect formulas not displayed in the formula bar

• With Built-in features
• With Kutools for Excel

Why Hide Formulas in Excel?

Before diving into the methods, it’s important to understand why you might want to hide formulas:

• Protect Intellectual Property: Prevent others from viewing or copying complex formulas.
• Prevent Accidental Changes: Stop users from editing or deleting formulas that are critical to your workbook.
• Improve Readability: Hide formulas to make the workbook look cleaner and more professional.
• Security: Restrict access to sensitive calculations or logic.

Hide and protect formulas not displayed in the formula bar

This article will guide you through two methods to hide and protect formulas in Excel: one using Excel’s built-in features and the other using Kutools for Excel, a powerful add-in designed to simplify Excel operations.

➡️ Hide and protect formulas not displayed in the formula bar with Built-in features

Excel provides a built-in way to lock and hide formulas, preventing them from being displayed in the formula bar or modified by users. Here’s how you can do it:

Step 1: Unlock all cells in the worksheet

1. Select all cells in the worksheet by pressing "Ctrl" +"A".
2. Then, press "Ctrl" + "1" to open the "Format Cells" dialog box.
3. In the "Format Cells" dialog box, under the "Protection" tab, uncheck the "Locked" option, and then, click "OK" button. See screenshot:
   

Step 2: Select all formula cells

Now that all cells have been unlocked. In this step, we should select all cells with a formula.

1. Under the "Home" tab, click "Find & Select" > "Go To Special". See screenshot:
   
2. In the "Go To Special" dialog box, check the "Formulas" radio button and all formula types will be selected. See screenshot:
   
3. Then, click "OK" button, and all the cells with formula are selected at once.

Step 3: Lock and hide the formula cells

After selecting the formula cells you want to hide. Then, you should lock and hide them.

1. Right-click the selected cells and choose "Format Cells" (or press "Ctrl" + "1").
2. In the "Protection" tab, check the "Lock" and "Hidden" box. This will hide the formulas in the formula bar.
   
3. Click "OK" button to close the dialog box.

Step 4: Protect the Worksheet

To ensure the Hidden attribute works, you need to protect the worksheet. Without protection, the formulas will be visible in the formula bar when selected, even if you’ve marked them as hidden.

1. Go to click "Review" > "Protect Sheet" in the Excel ribbon.
   
2. In the popped-out dialog box, type a password and confirm it. And then, click "OK" to close the dialogs. See screenshots:
   

Result:

Now, the formulas in this sheet are hidden and protected, they will not display in the formula bar when those cells are selected. If you attempt to delete or edit these formulas, a warning message will appear. However, you can still edit other cells as needed.

➡️ Hide and protect formulas not displayed in the formula bar with Kutools for Excel

While Excel provides built-in methods to lock and hide formulas, these options can sometimes be limited or cumbersome to implement. Kutools simplifies the process of hiding and protecting formulas, offering a user-friendly and efficient solution for safeguarding your work. In this section, we’ll explore how to use Kutools for Excel to hide and protect formulas.

After installing Kutools for Excel, please do with the following steps:

1. Press "Ctrl" +"A" to select the whole sheet.
2. Click "Kutools Plus" > "Design View" to open a new "Kutools Design" tab.
   
3. In the "Kutools Design" tab, click "Unlock Cells" feature.
   
4. Then, please do the following operations:
   (1.) Click "Highlight Formulas" from the ribbon;
   (2.) Then, select the highlighted formulas;
   (3.) Click "Lock cells" from the ribbon;
   (4.) Then, click "Hide Formulas".
   
5. At last, click "Protect Sheet" from the ribbon. And in the popped-out dialog box, type a password and confirm it.
   

Result:

Now, all selected formula cells are hidden from the formula bar and cannot be altered unless the protection is removed.

Hiding and protecting formulas in Excel is essential for safeguarding sensitive data and preventing accidental modifications. While Excel's built-in features provide a way to achieve this, they require multiple steps and can be difficult to manage. "Kutools for Excel" offers a streamlined, user-friendly solution, allowing you to hide and protect formulas with just a few clicks. Choose the best way to you need. If you're interested in exploring more Excel tips and tricks, our website offers thousands of tutorials to help you master Excel.

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How to highlight / conditional formatting cells with formulas in Excel?

How to lock and protect formulas in Excel?