Last Updated on April 20, 2020

This simple exercise supposes that you already know what a MS Excel formula is and that you currently work with formulas. If you do so, then you know that formulas in cells can be seen. A click on the respective cell makes the contained formula visible in the formula bar, just above the worksheet. It is possible to hide it from others and still keep the worksheet usable, by performing the following steps:

1. Select all cells (either press Ctrl+A or click on the small upper left square on the edge of the worksheet)
2. In the menu bar, go to Format – Cells
3. In the popup menu that opens, click on the Protection tab (it should be the last one on the menu)
4. Deselect the small box tagged Locked
5. Click on OK. Now all your cells can be overwritten, regardless the protection status of the worksheet.
6. Select only the cells containing formulas that you want to hide (If you need to perform multiple selection, you can press and hold down the Ctrl key, while clicking on each cell you want to select)
7. In the menu bar, go to Format – Cells
8. In the popup menu that opens, click on the Protection tab
9. Tick the small box tagged Hidden and the Locked box as well. If you don’t tick the Locked box, other users of your worksheet would be able to overwrite the formula cells, without even knowing that they contain formulas (as they become invisible following this operation).
10. Click on OK
11. In the menu bar, go to Tools – Protection – Protect Sheet
12. If you want, you can input a password for unlocking the worksheet. This will prevent others from unlocking it. If you don’t want to do that, leave the password field blank and press OK.
13. Now click on one of your cells containing formulas and look at the formula bar. It should be empty, although the formula is still there. The cell would remain locked, but it would be automatically updated when changing the content of its precedents relating to the contained formula.

If you are interested in more resources, you can find some great ones here.