Microsoft has announced that sheet protection is now available on iPad, bringing it in line with Excel's desktop app and the online version of the program. This means that people using the iPad Excel app can pause and resume sheet protection, manage the related settings, and edit locked or unlocked ranges.

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This new iPad feature comes in the same week that Microsoft added support for Apple's Handoff to Excel and other well-known productivity apps. Given its usefulness, it's surprising that Microsoft has taken so long to extend sheet protection to iPad, especially since it's been a feature on Excel's desktop app for many years. Indeed, being able to protect your Excel worksheet lets you rest assured that you or others won't mess up your hard work by editing or accidentally deleting important data.

If a sheet is already protected, you'll see a padlock in the sheet tab at the bottom of your screen. To pause, manage, or restrict those protections, tap the tab, and choose "Protection."

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Alternatively, after opening the relevant sheet, tap "Protection" in the Review tab on the ribbon.

From the drop-down menu that appears, you can protect an unprotected sheet by toggling the "Protect Sheet" option via "Manage Sheet Protection," temporarily disable the protection on a sheet by choosing "Pause Sheet Selection," or re-enable protection by tapping "Resume Sheet Protection." You can also opt for "Restrict Permissions" to organize who can access or edit that sheet.

For more sheet protection controls, tap "Manage Sheet Protection." There, you can change the password, redefine which ranges are protected, and adjust other protection options. If a sheet was previously protected with a password, you'll need to enter it again to make any changes to the protection settings.

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To access this new protection feature, you must be using Excel on iPad Version 2.90.930.0 or later. If you meet this criterion but can't see the feature, check back in a few days -- Microsoft says that "features are released over time to ensure things are working smoothly," so sheet protection might not yet be added to your copy of the iPad Excel app.

Source: Microsoft