Home » Posts

Highlight unprotected cells

To highlight unprotected cells (cells that are unlocked) with conditional formatting, you can use a formula based on the CELL function. In the example shown, the custom formula used to set up conditional formatting is: =CELL("PROTECT",A1)=0 Where A1 represents the active cell in the selection when the rule was defined.

April 14, 2025 · 1 min · 66 words · Diane Greer

Table of Contents

Explanation

The CELL function can provide a wide range of information about cell properties.

One property is called “protect” and indicates whether a cell is unlocked or locked.

The CELL function returns either 1 or zero to indicate “on” or “off”.

Excel CELL function

When CELL returns 1, the expression returns FALSE and no conditional formatting is applied.

The jot down of information to be returned is specified asinfo_type.

Explanation#

Explanation