How to Disable Copy and Paste in Excel without Macros (With 2 Criteria)

Sometimes we need to share our Excel worksheet with users or clients. Suppose we want them to only be able to view the worksheet but not copy and paste any kind of data in it. In most cases, we would use macros to disable copy and paste in Excel. In this article, we will cover how to disable copy and paste in Excel without macros in two scenarios: while also allowing selection of cells, or not.


Using ‘Protect Sheet’ Option to Disable Copy and Paste without Macros

Excel provides an option named “Protect Sheet”, which prevents users from any kind of editing, including copy and paste, without a password.


Scenario 1 – Disabling Copy and Paste and Selection of Cells

In the following dataset of “Marks” & “Subjects” for different students, let’s disable the options to copy, paste, and select cells.

Disable Not Only Copy and Paste But Also Selection of Cells in Excel

Steps:

  • Go to the Review tab.
  • From the Protect option, select Protect Sheet.

Disable Not Only Copy and Paste But Also Selection of Cells in Excel

A dialog box named “Protect Sheet” will appear.

Disable Not Only Copy and Paste But Also Selection of Cells in Excel

  • Insert a password in the box named “Password to unprotect sheet”.
  • Uncheck the options “Select locked cells” & “Select unlocked cells”.
  • Click OK.

Disable Not Only Copy and Paste But Also Selection of Cells in Excel

A new dialog box will appear named “Confirm Password”.

  • Enter the password again in the box named “Reenter password to proceed”.
  • Click OK.

After the above actions, if you try to select or copy and paste any cell from the worksheet, the following message box will be displayed:


Scenario 2 – Selection of Excel Cells is Enabled but Copy and Paste are Disabled

In this example, we will also disable copy and paste by protecting the worksheet with “Protect Sheet”. But this time we will enable the selection of cells in our worksheet.

Selection of Excel Cells is Enabled but Copy and Paste are Disabled without Macros

Steps:

  • Go to Review > Protect > Protect Sheet.

Selection of Excel Cells is Enabled but Copy and Paste are Disabled without Macros

A new dialog box will appear named “Protect Sheet”.

Selection of Excel Cells is Enabled but Copy and Paste are Disabled without Macros

  • Input a password in the box named “Password to unprotect sheet”.
  • Do not uncheck the options “Select locked cells” & “Select unlocked”.
  • Click OK.

Selection of Excel Cells is Enabled but Copy and Paste are Disabled without Macros

A new dialog box opens named “Confirm Password”.

  • Input the password again in the box named “Reenter password to proceed”.
  • Click OK.

Selection of Excel Cells is Enabled but Copy and Paste are Disabled without Macros

  • Click on cell D5.

We are now able to select the cells in our worksheet.

  • Copy cell D5 and paste it to cell C12.

The following message box appears.


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Mukesh Dipto
Mukesh Dipto

Mukesh Dipto is an excellent marine engineer who loves working with Excel and diving into VBA programming. For him, programming is like a superhero tool that saves time when dealing with data, files, and the internet. His skills go beyond the basics, including Rhino3D, Maxsurf C++, AutoCAD, HTML, CSS, JavaScript, and WordPress. He got his B.Sc in Naval Architecture & Marine Engineering from BUET, and now he's switched gears, working as a content developer. In this role, he... Read Full Bio

2 Comments
  1. Seems you can still copy and paste it into a new book though, how to stop that?

  2. Reply Avatar photo
    Rubayed Razib Suprov Aug 14, 2022 at 11:44 AM

    Thanks for your question in our platform.
    You may opt for the first method mentioned here to prevent Excel sheet content to another workbook completely.
    Or you can read the article(https://www.exceldemy.com/protect-excel-sheet-from-copy-paste/#1_Use_Info_Option_to_Protect_Excel_Sheet_from_Copy-Paste) to prevent the workbook content from being copied to another workbook. You can ignore the VBA coding method if you want.

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