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Lecture 4 - Security

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7 views

Lecture 4 - Security

Uploaded by

wisteriag25
Copyright
© © All Rights Reserved
Available Formats
Download as PDF, TXT or read online on Scribd
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Security

Introduction
It’s important when building an Excel worksheet to know your audience. Who will see and
use the spreadsheet, and for what purpose(s)? Are you creating an Excel spreadsheet that
contains formulas that you don’t want anyone to be able to alter or delete? In these types
of situations, when you are building the spreadsheet, there are measures you can put in
place to protect parts of the worksheet that you don’t want deleted or altered accidentally.

Let’s start with a new Excel workbook:


Before you begin exploring how to protect your data, set up this simple worksheet:
1. Open Excel and start with a blank workbook.
2. In cell A1 type ‘Enter the dates required in cells B3-B10’ and press [Enter].
3. Click in cell B3.
4. Enter some random dates in cells B3 through B10.
5. Click in cell D3.
6. Type the formula ‘=B4-B3’ into the cell and press [Ctrl-Enter].
7. Move the cursor to the bottom right of cell D3 until the pointer changes to a black plus
sign (no arrows).
8. Click, hold and drag down to cell D9.
9. Click in cell C11.
10. Type the formula ‘=SUM(D3:D9)’.

Hiding Columns, Rows and Sheets


The easiest way to protect your formulas is to hide them so they cannot be seen.
11. Right click on the letter D column head and select Hide. (On a Windows keyboard, you
can also bring up the right-click menu using Shift-F10)
NOTE*** If right-click is unavailable, you can still hide columns, rows and
sheets by going to the Home tab, and in Cells, using the Format area and then
the Visibility section for the Hide & Unhide options!
12. Change the date in cell B10. Note that the number in cell C11 still changes, even
though you can no longer see any of the formulas in column D.
13. To reshow column D, highlight column C and, holding down the left mouse button, drag
right to highlight to column E.
14. Right click and select Unhide.
Note** Hiding and showing rows work the same way (right clicking).

Hiding Worksheets
Another option is to maintain your formulas on a different worksheet than your data.
15. Add a worksheet to your workbook by clicking the plus sign in a circle next to the
Sheet1 tab at the bottom of the Excel sheet.
16. On Sheet2, click in cell A1.
17. Type the formula ‘=Sheet1!B4-Sheet1!B3’.
18. Move the cursor to the bottom right of cell A1 until the pointer changes to a black plus
sign (no arrows).
19. Click, hold and drag down to cell A7.
20. Click in cell A11.
21. Type the formula ‘=SUM(A1:A7).
22. Click on the Sheet1 tab.
23. Click in cell C11.
24. Type the formula ‘=Sheet2!A11’.
25. Delete the information from Sheet1 column D.
26. Right click on the Sheet2 tab and choose Hide.
27. The only remaining visible tab is Sheet1 – change the date in cell B10.
28. Note that the number in C11 changes with the date change, even though all the
calculations are hidden with Sheet2.

Protecting Sheets and Locking Cells


At this point, even though Sheet2 has been hidden and those formulas cannot be altered, there
is still a formula in cell C11 on Sheet1. Excel has mechanisms you can use to protect this
formula as well. The default protection for all cells in a worksheet is locked. You can protect
certain cells by locking only those and then protecting the worksheet to only allow unlocked
cells to be selectable.
29. Click the upper left hand corner of the worksheet (between the A and the 1).
30. This while highlight the entire worksheet. Right click and choose Format Cells to open
the Format Cells area.
31. Click on the Protection tab and then then click the box next to the ‘Locked’ option to
unselect it.
32. Click [OK].
33. Click on cell C11.
34. Right click and choose Format Cells to open the Format Cells area.
35. Click on the Protection tab and then check the ‘Locked’ box.
36. Click [OK].
37. The only cell in the worksheet that is now locked is cell C11.
38. Click on the Review tab and in the Changes area, click on [Protect Sheet].
39. You can put a password to lock the worksheet, but this time just click [OK].
40. You can now alter any cell in the worksheet EXCEPT C11 because that is the only cell
that is locked.
41. Click on the Review tab and click on [Unprotect Sheet].

Hiding Formulas
Protecting the sheet prevents the formula from being altered, but it can still be seen. Excel also
allows you to also hide the formula.
42. Click on cell C11.
43. Right click and choose Format Cells to open the Format Cells area.
44. Click on the Protection tab and then check the ‘Hidden’ box.
45. Click on the Review tab and in the Changes area, click on [Protect Sheet].
46. You can put a password to lock the worksheet, but this time just click [OK].
47. You can now alter any cell in the worksheet except C11 and you also cannot see the
formula in the formula bar.
48. Click on the Review tab and click on [Unprotect Sheet].

Removing Cell Selection Ability


You can also prevent anyone from being able to even select the cell that contains a formula.
49. Click on the Review tab and in the Changes area, click on [Protect Sheet].
50. Click the box next to Select Locked Cells to uncheck it.
51. You can put a password to lock the worksheet, but this time just click [OK].
52. You can now select any cell in the worksheet EXCEPT C11.
53. Click on the Review tab and click on [Unprotect Sheet].

Setting Passwords
In the previous sections, we have not added an actual password, which means that anyone
could unprotect the worksheet and alter formulas. If you need to add extra security to your
worksheet, you can add a password, but be sure to choose something that you can remember.

Adding a Password when Saving


You can also add a password to your file when you save it.

Click on the File tab, then choose Save As.


Name the file you are saving to your computer as “Assignment 4.[Your Last Name].xlsx”.
Before clicking Save, click on the Tools pull down to the left of the Save button. Choose General
Options and enter cis308 as the Password to open.
Click [OK] and then click [Save].
In Canvas, upload your assignment document as the response to Question 1 in the Lecture 4
assessment, then answer the rest of the assessment based on your file and/or comprehension
of the lecture.

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