Microsoft Excel allows users to edit a cell in the cell itself. However, if you need to use a lot of big and complicated formulas, you might need to use the Formula bar. On the other hand, if you need to enter texts larger than the cell size, you need to use the same bar. That is why you can stop yourself or users from editing directly in the cell in Excel. After enabling this setting, you will be able to edit the cell in the Formula bar directly.
How to Lock and Protect Cells in Excel from editing
To stop users from editing directly in cell in Excel, follow these steps:
- Open Microsoft Excel.
- Click on the Options.
- Switch to the Advanced tab.
- Remove the tick from the Allow editing directly in cells checkbox.
- Click the OK button.
Let’s check out these steps in detail.
For getting started, open Microsoft Excel and click on the Options menu. Then, switch to the Advanced tab on the left side.
Here you can find a setting called Allow editing directly in cells. By default, it should be enabled. You need to remove the tick from the corresponding checkbox.
Click the OK button to save the change.
Stop users from editing directly in a cell in Excel using Group Policy
To stop users from editing directly in a cell in Excel using Group Policy, follow these steps:
- Press Win+R > type gpedit.msc and hit the Enter button.
- Go to Advanced in User Configuration.
- Double-click on the Edit directly in cell setting.
- Choose the Disabled option.
- Click the OK button.
To know more about these steps, continue reading.
First, you must open the Local Group Policy Editor on your computer. For that, press Win+R to display the Run prompt, type gpedit.msc, and hit the Enter button.
Once it is opened, navigate to the following path:
User Configuration > Administrative Templates > Microsoft Excel 2016 > Excel Options > Advanced
Double-click on the Edit directly in cell setting and choose the Disabled option.
At last, click the OK button to save the change and restart the Microsoft Excel to apply it.
Disable editing directly in a cell in Excel using Registry
To disable editing directly in a cell in Excel using Registry, follow these steps:
- Press Win+R to open Run dialog.
- Type regedit and press the OK button.
- Click the Yes button.
- Navigate to Microsoft\office\16.0\excelin HKCU.
- Right-click on excel > New > Key and name it as options.
- Right-click on options > New > Key and name it as binaryoptions.
- Right-click on binaryoptions > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value.
- Set the name as fnoincell_66_1.
- Double-click on it to set the Value data as 1.
- Click the OK button.
- Restart your computer.
To find out more about these aforementioned steps, continue reading.
To get started, press Win+R to pen the Run dialog, type regedit, and press the OK button. Then, click on the Yes option in the UAC prompt to open the Registry Editor.
Once it is opened, navigate to this path:
HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Policies\Microsoft\office\16.0\excel
Right-click on excel > New >Key and name it as options. Then, right-click on the options > New > Key and set the name as binaryoptions.
Next, right-click on binaryoptions > New > DWORD (32-bit) Value and call it fnoincell_66_1.
Then, double-click on it and set the Value data as 1.
Finally, click the OK button, close all the windows, and restart your computer.
How do you prevent people from editing a cell in Excel?
To prevent people from editing a cell in Excel, you need to use the in-built option called Allow Edit Range. It helps you select a range to allow or block users from editing them. You can find this option in the Review tab under the Protect section.
How do you lock cells so only one person can edit?
To lock cells so only one person can edit, you need to use a password. For that, open the sheet and go to the Review tab. Click on the Protect Sheet option and enter a password. Then, you can share the sheet with anybody without allowing them to edit.
That’s all! Hope this guide helped.
Read: Prevent users from setting personal site as default location in Office.
