How to lock a cell, a row or column?

To lock a cell

Step 1

Select (click) the cell you want to lock.

Suppose you select the cell shown below.

lockOneCell001

Step 2

Click "Input Control" on the top menu bar, and then the "Input Control" sub menu appears.

Click "Lock Cells." Your window should look like the image below.

lockOneCell002

The cell and the two buttons ("Lock cells" and "Set to Cells") are now highlighted in green. This means that the operation was successful and the setting is active. If you press the arrow keys to move the cursor away, you will see that the background color of the cell changes to gray, and the background colors of both buttons are turned off. If you move the cursor back to the cell, the background color of the two buttons will turn green again. This is a quick way to show you whether a cell is locked.

Tip: Toggle the "Lock Cells" button to lock or unlock the cell, and click "Set to Cells" delete the setting.

To lock a column or row

Step 1

Place the cursor in the cell as shown in the screenshot below.

lockOneCell003

Step 2

Click "Set to Column" or "Set to Row", in this example, we click "Set to Column". Now, all cells in the column (except the cell where the cursor is) turn green. The "Set to Column" button is also green. See the screenshot below.

lockOneCell004

If you move the cursor away from this column, you will see that the background color of all the cells changes to gray, and the background colors of all the buttons are turned off. If you move the cursor back to the column, the background color of the two buttons "Lock Cells" and "Set to Column" will turn green again (if your cursor is in the cell as shown in step 1, the "Set to Cells" button will also turn green). This is a quick way to show you whether a cell, column or row is locked.

Tip: Toggle the "Set to Column" button to lock or unlock the column, and toggle the "Set to Cells" button to lock or unlock the cell.

To delete all locked cells, columns and rows

Step 1

On the "Input Control" sub menu, click "Search Settings", and then a drop-down menu appears. Click and select "Locked." Your window should now look like the one below.

lockOneCell007

Step 2

Click "DELETE", a confirmation window will pop up, click Yes. Now, all locked cells, rows and columns should be deleted.

Note: This function is only available to users with designer access rights.