Protected sheet does not allow font bolding in Excel Online Only

Copper Contributor

I have an Excel spreadsheet that users access and edit online via SharePoint. The sheet is protected to stop users from adding additional columns but all other features should be available. Until recently, users could change the font, alignment, and number formatting for cells, but these options in the toolbar are now greyed out and unavailable to the user. However, whilst being greyed out in Excel Online, when the same document is opened in desktop for editing, the font text options become available again without any further changes. Has anyone else come across this, feels like a bug in Excel Online?

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1 Reply

@TortoiseOfFire 

When a sheet is protected in Excel Online, certain formatting options, such as changing the font, alignment, and number formatting, may become unavailable for editing. This behavior is different from the desktop version of Excel, where these formatting options remain accessible even when the sheet is protected.

Unfortunately, there is no built-in solution to enable these formatting options while the sheet is protected in Excel Online. Users would need to switch to the desktop version of Excel or use Excel Online with an unprotected sheet to make font changes.

If this limitation is causing significant issues for your users, you may consider providing instructions to your users to use the desktop version of Excel or exploring alternative solutions such as creating custom forms or using data validation to control the input in specific cells without protecting the entire sheet.

It's worth noting that Microsoft continually updates and improves their Office Online applications, so it's possible that this limitation may change in the future. You can keep an eye on Microsoft's official documentation and announcements for any updates regarding the availability of formatting options while a sheet is protected in Excel Online.