Maruf Islam
In day-to-day usage, users receive files that are saved in previous Excel versions or have probable viruses attached to them. As a result, Excel opens them in Protected View. Therefore, users want to enable editing in Excel Protected View.
In this article, we discuss several ways to enable editing in Excel Protected View.
What Is “Protected View” in Excel?
Excel isolates files for safe viewing or read-only mode referred to as Protected View. In Protected View mode, Excel disabled all the commands. Newer versions of Excel such as Excel 365 as well as previous versions allow users to view insecure files in Protected View.
Excel displays files in Protected View for multiple reasons. However, the most prominent of them is that files received from external sources may contain malicious viruses that have a probable chance of harming users’ devices. Thus viewing Excel files in Protected View mode averts those security threats.
The other reasons behind Excel displaying files in Protected View depend on the types of files Excel is opening. Go through This Link to learn more.
5 Ways to Enable Editing in Excel Protected View
Follow any of the below methods to enable the Editing Mode in Excel Protected View.
Method 1: Clicking on ‘Enable Editing’ to Edit in Protected View
🔼 When opening an insecure file (saved in previous versions of Excel or received from external sources) in Excel, Excel usually displays it in Protected View. There is a warning saying-
Besides the warning, there is an Enable Editing option next to it. Click on it to enable editing of the Excel file.
This will allow you to edit the file.
Read More: How to Edit a Cell in Excel (4 Easy Methods)
Method 2: Enabling Editing Using Info Feature
🔼 Excel files open in Protected View normally have the Enable Editing option along with the warning. Users can also find the Enable Editing option from Ribbon’s File > Info > Enable Editing. Click on Enable Editing to enable editing of the opened file.
Read More: How to Unlock Excel Sheet for Editing (With Quick Steps)
Method 3: Allow Editing Insecure Files by Changing Protected View Settings
Excel Trust Center Setting contains several settings that allow users to edit any Excel files without ever encountering the Protected View mode. There are three Protected View options, disabling them will allow automatic editing mode of any Excel files after opening. The options (reasons) are
(i) Enable Protected View for files originating from the internet.
(ii) Enable Protected View for files located in potentially unsafe locations.
(iii) Enable Protected View for Outlook attachments.
Take a visit to This Link to familiarize yourself with other reasons, Excel opens files in Protected View Mode.
🔼 Go to Excel Ribbon File > Options.
🔼 The Excel Options window appears. Select Trust Center from the right options. Then click on Trust Center Settings.
🔼 The Trust Center window pops up. In the window, choose Protected View (from the right-side options). Untick all the 3 options under Protected View (mentioned earlier) afterward click on OK.
Disabling those three options allow Excel to directly display the Editing Mode while opening an excel file.
Read More: Cannot Edit Excel File in Protected View (3 Reasons with Solutions)
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Method 4: Changing File Block Setting to Enable Editing
🔼 As Excel displays files that are saved in previous versions of Excel in Protected View, users can change the File Block Setting to avert this. In the Trust Center window, there is an option named File Block Settings.
First- fetch the Trust Center window following the steps of the previous method. Afterward, click on the File Block Settings (situated on the right side of the window). Under the File Block Settings > File Type, untick the Open options of all the previous Excel version variants then click OK.
Make sure you mark the option – Open selected file types in Protected View or Open selected file types in Protected View and allow editing. Unticking those options allow Excel users to open any Excel version files opening in direct Editing Mode.
Method 5: Adding File Location As Trusted Location to Avoid Protected View
Also, there is another option named Trusted Locations in the Trust Center window. Adding the file’s location as Trusted Location Path allows users to open those located files in Editing Mode directly.
🔼 Navigate to the Trust Center window. In the window, select Trusted Locations from the right-side options. Then click on Add new location.
🔼 Excel brings up the Microsoft Office Trusted Location dialog box. Click on Browse to select the desired location.
🔼 After selecting the desired location, tick the option saying- Subfolders of this location are also trusted. Then click OK.
🔼 Clicking OK in the Microsoft Office Trusted Location dialog box, brings you to the Trust Center window. Again, click on OK.
Adding a location as Trusted Location where users store their files enables Excel to open them in Editing Mode directly.
Conclusion
In this article, we discussed several ways to enable editing in Excel Protected View. Users can use any of them to get into Excel Editing Mode avoiding the Protected View display. Hope this article offers you to deal with the Excel Protected View Mode. Comment, if you have further inquiries or have anything to add.
