2.5 Protecting your data

Listed below are three ways to protect your data on Excel:

1. Protecting the spreadsheet: To prevent other users from accidentally or intentionally editing, moving, or deleting data in a spreadsheet, you can lock the cells in your Excel spreadsheet, and then protect the spreadsheet with a password. However, spreadsheet-level protection simply prevents users from changing locked cells within the spreadsheet and is not equivalent to protecting an Excel file or workbook with a password.
2. Protecting the workbook: To prevent other users from displaying hidden spreadsheets, adding, moving, deleting, hiding, or renaming spreadsheets, you can password-protect your Excel workbook structure. To protect the structure of your workbook, click the Review tab > Protect Workbook, and then enter a password.
3. Protecting the Excel file: To prevent other users from accessing file data, protect your Excel file with a password. Select File > Info, then select Protect Workbook, and then Encrypt with Password. You must then enter a password and confirm the password.