This is a great element in Excel that allows you to keep certain parts of your sheet visible while you scroll to other areas. This is especially useful when you have a lot of data and rows in your sheet.
When sharing projects or working on a team, it is often necessary to lock certain columns in an Excel sheet so that everyone is working off of the same data set. Locking columns is a simple process that can be completed in a few steps.
In order to lock columns in Excel, simply select the cells you want to keep visible and then click on the “freeze panes” option in the View tab. However, check below for a few things to keep in mind before freezing panes in your sheet!
Procedure to protect columns in Excel
1. Open your worksheet and click Review>Protect Sheet
2. Set a password to protect the worksheet and contents of locked cells and mark the format columns after clicking the “OK” button.
3. Reenter the password to proceed
Now your worksheet columns are locked and no one will be able to edit them. However, if you lose or forget the password, it can’t be recovered.
Hence, it is advisable that you note it down somewhere safe or keep a copy of the file with password protection in a different location.
Procedure to unprotect columns in Excel
1. Open your worksheet and Click Review>Unprotect Sheet
3. Enter the password to unprotect the sheet and click the OK button
Your columns are now unprotected and you can edit them as you please.
