Locking Tabs on a shared spreadsheet

Hi, can someone help, I share sheets with around 200 people to add their comments on, the most frustrating thing is when people think they are going to their tab and keep adding blank sheets - is the...

excel

PankajBadoni
Aug 12, 2025
To protect workbook structure, you can try to enable protect structure:
Open your Excel file.
Go to the Review tab.
Click Protect Workbook > Protect Structure.
Set a password (optional but recommended).
This will prevent users from adding, deleting, renaming, hiding, or moving sheets. Still allow them to edit the content of existing sheets.

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If this helped, please mark it as the answer!

OlufemiO

Brass Contributor

Aug 13, 2025

Protect the Workbook Structure

This is the key feature that stops users from adding, deleting, or renaming sheets.

How to enable it:

Go to the Review tab
Click Protect Workbook
Check Structure
(Optional) Add a password
Click OK

✅ This locks the workbook layout while still allowing users to edit cells in existing sheets.

Create a “Start Here” Navigation Sheet

To reduce confusion and guide users to their assigned tabs, I created a front-facing sheet with clear instructions and clickable links.

Example layout:

excel

🟢 Welcome to the Collaboration Sheet Please do not add new sheets.

Your tab is already set up.

Click your name below to jump to your sheet:

=HYPERLINK("#'Amos'!A1", "Amos")
=HYPERLINK("#'Wale'!A1", "Wale")
=HYPERLINK("#'Henry'!A1", "Henry")
=HYPERLINK("#'Jack'!A1", "Jack")

Need help?

Contact the sheet owner.

Create Individual Sheets for Each User

Each sheet is named after the user and includes a simple layout for comments or input. For example:
Header: Comments for [Name]
Table or section for input
Optional formatting or instructions

Why This Works