One of my mac users is on version Mac Excel 14.6.0. When I help him unlock the sheet, you can see there's no button to specify which cells.

How to lock/unlock cells in a protected worksheet?

In Excel, the cells are locked when you protect a worksheet by default. But if you want to unlock certain cells in a protected worksheet, how can you solve it? Here I will tell you some tricks to lock or unlock cells in a protected worksheet.

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Lock/unlock cells in protected worksheet in Format Cells feature

To lock or unlock cells in a protected worksheet, you need to unprotect the worksheet first.

1. Click Review > Unprotect Sheet, then type password in the Unprotect Sheet dialog, and click OK. See screenshot:

2. Then select the cells you want to unlock, and right click to select Format Cells in the context menu. See screenshot:

3. In the Format Cells dialog, click Protection tab, then uncheck Locked box to unlock the cells, and if you want to lock the cells, check the Locked box. See screenshot:

4. Click OK to close the dialog. Then protect the worksheet again, you can find the unlocked cells can be edited, and the locked cells cannot be edited.

Lock/unlock cells in protected worksheet with Kutools for Excel

If you have installed Kutools for Excel, you can use its Worksheet Design utility to quickly unprotect the worksheet and lock or unlock cells in Excel.

Apple support. 1. Click Enterprise > Worksheet Design to show the Design tab in the ribbon. See screenshot:

2. Click Unprotect Sheet to show the Unprotect Sheet dialog, and type the password and click OK to unprotect the worksheet.

3. Select a range cells you want to lock or unlock, and click Selection Lock or Selection Unlock under Design tab to lock or unlock the selected cells. See screenshot:

4. In one of following Kutools for Excel dialogs, click OK to close it.

Then you can protect the worksheet again by clicking Protect Sheet, and click Close Worksheet Design to exit the Design.

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• To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
  I don't know the password in a protected sheet. This article didn't help me bypass the password at all. I don't know what it is and need to make adjustments to the excel file. This article assumes that I'm the one that made the password.
  Please help me in getting the sheet unlocked. This is the reason I clicked this link as it said it would help me lock or unlock a file.
• To post as a guest, your comment is unpublished.
  Sir, Madam,
  hope you are fine.
  i am facing problem of calculating the locked cell. how can i un locked these cells.
  13,296 8,680 4,483
  15,992 10,430 5,384
  14,929 9,743 5,031
  Total
  Please help in this regard.
  Thanks
  Naveed

To prevent a user from accidentally or deliberately changing, moving, or deleting important data, you can lock cells and protect them. Locking cells takes two steps: adding the Lock formatting to the cells, and then turning on protection of the sheet.

To lock cells

1. Select the cells that you want to lock.

2. On the Format menu, click Cells, or press + 1.

3. Click the Protection tab, and then make sure that the Locked check box is selected.

   Note: By default, all cells have the Locked formatting unless you previously turned it off.

4. If any cells should be unlocked, select them. Press + 1. Then click to clear the Locked check box so that it isn't selected.

5. On the Review tab, click Protect Sheet or Protect Workbook. Type a password for the sheet or workbook, and then retype the password under Verify.

   Note: The password is optional. If you do not supply a password, any user can unprotect the sheet and change what was protected. If you do enter a password, make sure that you choose a password that is easy to remember, or write it down and keep it in a safe place. If you lose the password, you can't access the protected parts on the sheet.

6. If you don't want people to select locked cells, click to clear the Select locked cells check box.

7. If you want people to be able to select and fill out unlocked cells, click to select Select unlocked cells.

8. Before you click OK to finish, you might want people to do other things to the locked cells, like select them or format them. If so, under Allow users of this sheet to, choose the elements that you want people to be able to select or change.

9. Click OK.

To unlock cells

1. You may need to temporarily turn off protection so that you can unlock cells. On the Review tab, click Unprotect Sheet or Unprotect Workbook. Then type the password.

2. Select the cells that you want to unlock.

3. Press + 1. Then click to clear the Locked check box so that it is not selected.

4. If there are other cells that still need to be locked, on the Review tab, click Protect Sheet or Protect Workbook. Then type a password for the sheet, and verify it by typing it again.