The f4 key is the easiest way to lock cell references.

How to lock cell in excel shortcut. To lock all cells that contain formulas, first unlock all cells. Excel will automatically add the $. Here's how to do it:

On the home tab, in the alignment group, click the small arrow to open the format cells popup window. But sometimes they are unlocked by mistake while performing other operations. In that menu, select “format cells.”.

This still works in the mac world if i enter it manually, but in the windows version of excel, there was a keyboard shortcut (highlight a1 in the formula bar and then press the f4. Lock a formula cell in excel. On the protection tab, select the locked check box,.

Select the cells that you want to remain unprotected. Select the cells that contain your formulas. First, go to the home tab in excel.

The f4 shortcut to lock a reference only works on. Lock and unlock specific cells or ranges. In this blog post, two methods to lock a cell in an excel formula have been discussed with examples.

In the “format cells” box, click the “protection”. Moreover, you may accomplish the same task (lock cells for using as the absolute references) utilizing the keyboard shortcut key (f4. Article by jeevan a y.