To protect your formulas in Excel, you can either hide them or embed them in a LAMBDA function.
Hide a formula from the cell protection options
To make a formula invisible in the formula bar, we will use the principle of locking a cell. In the world of finance, where calculations are very complex, such as decreasing depreciation, you have to protect your formulas.
- Open the All Options window for a cell by clicking the ribbon arrow. You can do this with the section
- Name
- Alignment
- Police
- Go to the tab Protection
- Then, the option must be Masked is well checked.
- It is also necessary that the option Locked be checked
- Lock the spreadsheet where the formulas to be hidden are located.
- Either from the menu Review > Protect Sheet
- Either with the menu Home > Format > Protect sheet
Now when you go to select a locked and hidden cell, the formula is not displayed in the formula bar đđ
LAMBDA functions
LAMBDA functions are special functions. They were created for you to write your own functions. Let's take the example of functions that generate random first and last names.
While behind this name there is a very complex formula.
So with Lambda, the goal is not to truly hide a formula because it is always accessible by the name manager. But it is made difficult to see to prevent your users from making changes. This way you protect your complex functions.
