How to lock/unlock cells in a protected worksheet?

In Excel, the cells are locked when you protect a worksheet by default. But if you want to unlock certain cells in a protected worksheet, how can you solve it? Here I will tell you some tricks to lock or unlock cells in a protected worksheet.

Lock/unlock cells in protected worksheet in Format Cells feature

Lock/unlock cells in protected worksheet with Kutools for Excel

Lock/unlock cells in protected worksheet in Format Cells feature

To lock or unlock cells in a protected worksheet, you need to unprotect the worksheet first.

1. Click Review > Unprotect Sheet, then type password in the Unprotect Sheet dialog, and click OK. See screenshot:

2. Then select the cells you want to unlock, and right click to select Format Cells in the context menu. See screenshot:

3. In the Format Cells dialog, click Protection tab, then uncheck Locked box to unlock the cells, and if you want to lock the cells, check the Locked box. See screenshot:

4. Click OK to close the dialog. Then protect the worksheet again, you can find the unlocked cells can be edited, and the locked cells cannot be edited.

Lock/unlock cells in protected worksheet with Kutools for Excel

If you have installed Kutools for Excel, you can use its Worksheet Design utility to quickly unprotect the worksheet and lock or unlock cells in Excel.

After free installing Kutools for Excel, please do as below:

1. Click Kutools Plus > Worksheet Design to show the Design tab in the ribbon. See screenshot:

2. Click Unprotect Sheet to show the Unprotect Sheet dialog, and type the password and click OK to unprotect the worksheet.

3. Select a range cells you want to lock or unlock, and click Lock Cells or Unlock Cells under Design tab to lock or unlock the selected cells. See screenshot:

4. In one of following Kutools for Excel dialogs, click OK to close it.

Then you can protect the worksheet again by clicking Protect Sheet, and click Close Design to exit the Design.