Microsoft Office

Part IV
Using Advanced Excel Features
About Information Rights Management
Excel supports a feature known as Information Rights Management (IRM), which allows you to specify
access permissions for workbooks. Using IRM may help prevent sensitive information from being printed,
e-mailed, or copied by unauthorized people. When IRM is applied to a workbook, the permission information
is stored in the document file itself.
To use IRM, you must install Microsoft’s Windows Rights Management Services (RMS) — an extra-cost product
that isn’t included with Microsoft Office. You can access the IRM settings by choosing Office ➪ Prepare ➪
Restrict Permission.
IRM is not covered in this book. If your company uses RMS, consult your system administrator for more information
about how this feature is used within your organization.
Worksheet Protection
Excel users protect a worksheet for a variety of reasons. One reason is to prevent yourself or others from
accidentally deleting formulas or other critical data. A common scenario is to protect a worksheet so that
the data can be changed, but the formulas can’t be changed.
To protect a worksheet, activate the worksheet and choose Review ➪ Changes ➪ Protect Sheet. Excel displays
the Protect Sheet dialog box shown in Figure 31.1. Note that providing a password is optional. If you
enter a password, that password will be required to unprotect the worksheet. If you accept the default
options in the Protect Sheet dialog box, none of the cells on the worksheet can be modified.
FIGURE 31.1
Use the Protect Sheet dialog box to protect a worksheet.
Unlocking cells
In many cases, you will want to allow some cells to be changed when the worksheet is protected. For example,
your worksheet may have some input cells that are used by formula cells. In such a case, you would
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