How to Protect Workbook Structure in Excel (Lock Sheet Order and Names)

Protect Workbook Structure

Go to Review tab → Protect Workbook. Check “Structure” and optionally set a password. Click OK.

What structure protection prevents:

• Deleting sheets
• Adding new sheets
• Renaming sheets
• Moving sheets (reordering)
• Copying sheets
• Hiding/unhiding sheets

What Structure Protection Doesn't Do

Structure protection is about sheets, not cells. Users can still:

• Edit any cell contents
• Format cells, rows, columns
• Insert/delete rows and columns
• Modify charts, pivot tables, formulas

If you want to protect cell contents, you need sheet protection (Review → Protect Sheet) applied to individual sheets.

Structure + Sheet Protection Together

For maximum control, use both:

1. Protect each sheet (Review → Protect Sheet) with passwords
2. Then protect the workbook structure (Review → Protect Workbook)

Now users can't modify the workbook structure OR edit protected cells. You can allow certain actions per sheet (like selecting cells or formatting) when setting up sheet protection.

Password Best Practices

Excel protection passwords are not high-security. They deter casual changes but won't stop a determined person with password recovery tools.

Use protection to prevent accidents, not to secure sensitive data. For actual security, use file-level encryption or access controls.

Removing Protection

Review tab → Protect Workbook (click again to toggle off). Enter the password if one was set.

The button appears “highlighted” when protection is active. If you can't unprotect and don't know the password, you'll need to contact whoever protected it.

Official Resources

• Protect a workbook — workbook protection guide
• Protect a worksheet — sheet-level protection