Forum Discussion
How to protect workbook and still open hyperlinks
Hello,
I have a workbook that I want to make available to the entire company that shows the status of tasks for a certain process. I want everyone to be able to see the information but not make any changes. I know I can restrict access to prevent that. However, there are hyperlinks to documents in the workbook that users DO need to be able to open. It appears that restricting access to the workbook does not allow users to open (download) the documents via the hyperlinks.
Is there a way to allow users to open hyperlinks and still protect the workbook from anyone making any changes?
Thank you!!
1 Reply
Try this:
- Unlock the hyperlink cells first
- Select the cells that contain hyperlinks.
- Right‑click → Format Cells → Protection tab.
- Uncheck Locked.
- This ensures that when you protect the sheet, those cells remain interactive.
- Protect the worksheet with specific permissions
- Go to Review → Protect Sheet.
- Enter a password if desired.
- In the protection dialog, check Select unlocked cells (and optionally Select locked cells).
- Leave all other options unchecked.
- This prevents editing but still allows clicking hyperlinks.
- Do not use “Restrict Access” (IRM)
- Information Rights Management (IRM) restrictions can block external actions like opening hyperlinks.
- Instead, rely on worksheet protection or read‑only sharing.
- Unlock the hyperlink cells first
