How to protect conditional formatting rules in Excel?
As we all know, other users cannot view the formulas when you share the worksheet if you have formatted formula cells as hidden and then protected the sheet. However, if there are some conditional formatting rules applied in the sheet, other users can view the formula rule of the conditional formatting if they copy and paste the range cells from the protected sheet to another sheet. If you do not want the formulas in the conditional formatting rules to be viewed, here I can introduce a VBA code to help you.
Protect conditional formatting rules with VBA
Protect conditional formatting rules with VBA
To protect conditional formatting rules from being viewed by copying and pasting to other sheets, there is no direct way. But here is a VBA can prevent users copying from the protected sheet to other sheets.
1. Press Alt + F11 keys simultaneously to open Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.
2. In the Project pane double click at the sheet name you want to prevent copying and pasting to other sheets, and paste below VBA code to the script in the right section. See screenshot:
VBA: prevent copying and pasted cells to other sheets.
Private Sub Worksheet_Deactivate()
Application.CutCopyMode = False
End Sub
3. Save the code and close the window. From now on, the cells in this protected sheet cannot be copied and pasted to other sheets.
Unlock Excel Magic with Kutools AI
- Smart Execution: Perform cell operations, analyze data, and create charts—all driven by simple commands.
- Custom Formulas: Generate tailored formulas to streamline your workflows.
- VBA Coding: Write and implement VBA code effortlessly.
- Formula Interpretation: Understand complex formulas with ease.
- Text Translation: Break language barriers within your spreadsheets.
Relative Article:
How to remove conditional formatting but keep format in Excel?
Best Office Productivity Tools
Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time. Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...
Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier
- Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
- Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
- Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!
All Kutools add-ins. One installer
Kutools for Office suite bundles add-ins for Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint plus Office Tab Pro, which is ideal for teams working across Office apps.
- All-in-one suite — Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint add-ins + Office Tab Pro
- One installer, one license — set up in minutes (MSI-ready)
- Works better together — streamlined productivity across Office apps
- 30-day full-featured trial — no registration, no credit card
- Best value — save vs buying individual add-in