Hide Formulas in a Worksheet and Prevent Deletion
This macro will hide all formulas within a workbook and not allow them to be deleted. The page will not be protected like a regular protected worksheet in excel; this means that you can still add content to the workbook without a problem and you can edit everything as long as it is not a formula. You can enter a new formula but you cannot then delete that formula. In addition, if you select a cell with a formula, that cell's contents will not be displayed. This allows you to keep your formulas hidden from users and adds an extra level of security. If you want to edit a particular cell, you will have to click that cell and then "Unhide" that cell by typing a password (which is located in the VBA code). Also, if you decide to delete this macro from your workbook, you will have to re-enter the password to unprotect the workbook afterwards if you want everything to be unprotected.
Note: To change the password, locate where it says "password" in the macro vba code and change this word to any password you want. You will need to change this in three separate places within the macro.
Note: Also, this macro will need to be inserted into the "ThisWorkbook" section. You do this by going into the vba editor (Alt + F11) and then look to the left pane and double-click where it says "ThisWorkbook" and insert this code into that window.
Hide Formulas in a Worksheet and Prevent Deletion
Private Sub Workbook_SheetSelectionChange(ByVal Sh As Object, ByVal Target As Range)
Dim formula As Range
On Error Resume Next
Sh.Unprotect Password:="password"
With Selection
.Locked = False
.FormulaHidden = False
End With
If Target.Cells.Count = 1 Then
If Target.HasFormula Then
With Target
.Locked = True
.FormulaHidden = True
End With
Sh.Protect Password:="password", UserInterFaceOnly:=True
End If
ElseIf Target.Cells.Count > 1 Then
Set formula = Selection.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas)
If Not formula Is Nothing Then
With Selection.SpecialCells(xlCellTypeFormulas)
.Locked = True
.FormulaHidden = True
End With
Sh.Protect Password:="password", UserInterFaceOnly:=True
End If
End If
On Error GoTo 0
End Sub
How to Install the Macro
- Select and copy the text from within the grey box above.
- Open the Microsoft Excel file in which you would like the Macro to function.
- Press "Alt + F11" - This will open the Visual Basic Editor - Works for all Excel Versions.
Or For other ways to get there, Click Here.
For Excel Versions Prior to Excel 2007
Go to Tools > Macros > Visual Basic Editor
For Excel 2007
Go to Office Button > Excel Options > Popular > Click Show Developer tab in the Ribbon. Then go to the Developer tab on the ribbon menu and on the far left Click Visual Basic
- On the new window that opens up, go to the left side where the vertical pane is located. Locate your Excel file; it will be called VBAProject (YOUR FILE'S NAME HERE) and click this.
- If the Macro goes in a Module, Click Here, otherwise continue to Step 8.
- Go to the menu at the top of the window and click Insert > Module
- Another window should have opened within the Visual Basic Editor's window. Within this new window, paste the macro code. Make sure to paste the code underneath the last line of anything else that is in the window.
- Go to Step 8.
- If the Macro goes in the Workbook or ThisWorkbook, Click Here, otherwise continue to Step 8.
- Directly underneath your excel file called VBAProject(your file's name here), click the Microsoft Excel Objects folder icon to open that drop-down list.
- Then, at the bottom of the list that appears, double-click the ThisWorkbook text.
- A new window inside the Visual Basic Editor's window will appear. In this new window, paste the code for the macro. Make sure to paste this code underneath the last line of any other code which is already in the window.
- Go to Step 8.
- If the Macro goes in the Worksheet Code, Click Here, otherwise continue to Step 8.
- Directly underneath your excel file called VBAProject(your file's name here), click the Microsoft Excel Objects folder icon to open that drop-down list.
- Within the list that appears you will see every worksheet that is in that excel file. They will be listed as such: Sheet1(NAME OF SHEET HERE) and under that will be Sheet2(NAME OF SHEET HERE). Select the sheet in which you want the macro to run and double-click that sheet.
- A new window inside the Visual Basic Editor's window will appear. In this new window, paste the code for the macro. Make sure to paste this code underneath the last line of any other code which is already in the window.
- Repeat steps b and c for every sheet you want the macro to work in. Putting the macro in one sheet will not enable it for any other sheets in the workbook.
- Go to Step 8.
- Close the Microsoft Visual Basic Editor window and save the Excel file. When you close the Visual Basic Editor window, the regular Excel window will not close.
- You are now ready to run the macro.
