In Excel: every cell is already marked Locked, but locking only takes effect once you turn on Review ▸ Protect Sheet; to lock just some cells, first unlock the rest via Format Cells ▸ Protection (uncheck Locked), then Protect Sheet.
Select all cells, open Format Cells (Ctrl+1) ▸ Protection, and confirm Locked is ticked (it is by default).
Select only the cells people should still edit, reopen Format Cells ▸ Protection, and uncheck Locked.
Go to Review ▸ Protect Sheet, choose what users may still do, and set a password if you want.
Click OK — the locked cells are now read-only while the unlocked ones accept input.
What this does
The mechanism surprises most people: in a new sheet every cell already carries the Locked attribute, yet that attribute does nothing until you protect the sheet. So locking works in two layers. The Locked checkbox under Format Cells ▸ Protection marks which cells should be frozen, and Review ▸ Protect Sheet is the switch that actually enforces it. To make only some cells uneditable, you unlock the ones people should still type in (uncheck Locked for them), then Protect Sheet so the still-locked cells become read-only. Keep the inputs visible and clearly labelled and the whole thing stays auditable — anyone who opens the file later, including you, can see at a glance exactly what feeds the result and change one assumption without hunting through the formula. Treat “lock cells from editing” as a small repeatable workflow rather than a one-off click you hope to remember next time. Use a small test block before the live file, so any surprise in the affected cells shows up while it is still harmless. When this is a ribbon command, the selection matters more than the button: confirm the range, apply the command, then spot-check the output before saving. That turns a workspace setting that makes a big sheet comfortable to navigate into a method you can reuse, explain, and defend when the workbook leaves your screen.
A worked example
A form has input cells in column B and a calculated formula in column C that must not be touched. Select B2:B20, open Format Cells (Ctrl+1) ▸ Protection, and uncheck Locked — those input cells are now exempt. Leave column C as-is (still Locked). Now Review ▸ Protect Sheet, optionally set a password, and click OK. People can type freely in column B, but any attempt to edit the formula in C2 is refused with "the cell is protected". Lock cells when you are handing a sheet to other people and want them to fill in some fields without breaking your formulas, headers or layout — budget templates, data-entry forms, shared trackers. It guides input to exactly the right places while keeping the working parts of the model safe. One habit worth forming early: name the cells that hold your inputs, so the formula reads in plain language instead of a string of cell addresses. A reviewer — or you in three months — can then follow the logic without decoding what B7 and D2 were supposed to mean, which is most of what makes a sheet maintainable.
In Google Sheets
If you are in Google Sheets rather than Excel, the good news is that the formula shown here is identical and the workflow barely changes — menus sit across the top instead of in a ribbon, and a few function names differ slightly, but anything you build here moves across with little or no rework. Keep this page bookmarked for the next time the same question comes up. Better still, rebuild the example once in your own sheet — doing it yourself, with the tool above to check against, is what turns a copied formula into a technique you own. If you take one thing from this page on “lock cells from editing”, make it the habit rather than the keystrokes: set the problem up with labelled inputs, reference those cells, and let Excel do the recomputing. Bookmark the page for the syntax, but do the example once in a blank sheet and check it against the tool above — five minutes of hands-on practice fixes the method in memory far better than re-reading, and it surfaces the small snags while they are still harmless. After that the technique is genuinely yours: faster than searching for it again, and reliable enough to drop into work that other people depend on.
Common mistakes
- Ticking Locked and expecting it to work without protecting the sheet — the Locked attribute does nothing until Protect Sheet is on.
- Forgetting that all cells start Locked, so protecting the sheet without unlocking inputs freezes the entire sheet.
- Unlocking the cells you meant to protect by mistake — Locked must stay ticked on the formulas you want read-only.
- Confusing this cell-level locking with file encryption; locking controls editing, not whether the file opens.
Frequently asked questions
Why can I still edit a "locked" cell?
Because the sheet is not protected yet. The Locked attribute is dormant until you turn on Review ▸ Protect Sheet, which is what actually enforces it.
How do I lock only the formula cells and leave inputs open?
Unlock the input cells (Format Cells ▸ Protection ▸ uncheck Locked) while leaving the formulas Locked, then Protect Sheet — only the still-locked formulas become read-only.
Do I have to set a password to lock cells?
No. Protect Sheet works without a password; a password simply stops others from unprotecting the sheet and undoing your locks.
Other ways people ask this
People reach this page typing “excel chart title from cell”, “excel locking cells from editing”, “excel chart name from cell” and “how to lock cells from editing in excel”, among other phrasings; whichever wording you used, the fix above is the one you want.
Why do people search for this in so many different ways?
Because the same task has many names. “excel chart title from cell”, “excel locking cells from editing”, “excel chart name from cell” all point at the one operation explained on this page, which is why they all lead here.