How to Hide Excel Formula and Protect Worksheet in Spreadsheet / Ms Excel
- Luckily, Excel makes it fairly simple to hide formulas. Just follow the steps below.
- Hide the Formulas
- By default, when you click on a cell, its formula appears in the formula bar (as shown in the image).
- To hide formulas:
- Select the cells for which you to want to hide the formulas.
- Right-click the cell (or cells) and choose Format Cells.
- In the Format Cells dialog box, click the Protection tab.
- Check the Hidden box (as shown in the image)
- Note: Hidden is what prevents the user from seeing the formula. Locked prevents the user from changing the contents of the cell. Locked is set by default.
- And click OK.
Protect the Sheet
- Important Step: Setting the cell format to hidden has no effect until you protect the sheet!
- On the Review ribbon, click Protect Sheet.
- In the Protect Sheet dialog box, type a password. No one (including yourself) will be able to unprotect the sheet to make changes without typing the password, so do not forget the password!
- Click OK
- In the Confirm Password dialog box, Excel asks you to retype the password you selected. This prevents a typographical error in the password from locking up your spreadsheet forever. Retype the password and click OK.
- That’s it! The formulas in your worksheet are now protected, and your users cannot see or edit the formulas. To verify it, click on a formula: (As shown in the image).
- The formula no longer appears in the formula bar.
