There are a couple things you can do to prep your workbook before you send it out.
For example, first, you might want to run a spell check.
Then you can finalize the file, and even protect it to keep other people from making any more
changes.
To run a spell check, go to the Review tab… then click the Spelling command.
A dialog box will appear where you can type the correct spelling yourself… or you can
choose one of the suggestions… then click Change.
Now, spell check isn't perfect.
Sometimes it'll say a word is spelled wrong when it isn't—like people's names, business
names, and other proper nouns.
If that happens, you can ignore the error… or you can click Add to Dictionary.
This will save the word, so it never comes up as a spelling mistake again.
And it looks like that's it.
Now that we're done with our spell check, we can move onto the next step: finalizing
the file itself.
You'll find everything you need in the backstage view… under Inspect Workbook.
This feature can help you remove any personal info that may be hidden in the workbook's
file data.
It'll also check for things that you generally don't want in the final draft; for example,
comments or annotations that you forgot to delete.
Some of the changes from the inspector can't be undone, so it's a good idea to save an
extra copy before you continue.
When you're ready, go ahead and click Check for Issues… choose Inspect Document from
the menu… then click Inspect in the dialog box.
The results will appear with an exclamation mark next to anything that might contain sensitive
info.
In this example, it looks like there are some hidden document properties and personal information,
and also some comments that we definitely don't want in the final draft.
To remove an issue, just click the button to the right that says Remove All… and Excel
will take care of the rest.
I'm also going to remove the personal info the inspector found, just because the people
I'm sharing with don't really need access to it.
When you're done, click the Close button.
Ok, so our workbook has been finalized; now we can protect it to keep people from making
any further changes.
This step is optional, but it's a great way to control who's allowed to view or edit your
work.
All you have to do is click the Protect Workbook command… and make a selection from the menu.
Some of these options offer a high level of protection, such as Encrypt with Password,
which is good for really important or sensitive workbooks.
If you don't need that much security, though, you might want to consider one of the other
options.
In this case, I'm going to choose Mark as Final, which will just make the workbook read-only.
This should discourage people from making changes to the file, and also let them know
this is the final draft.
Once you make your selection, click OK to confirm… then OK again… and the setting
will be applied.
Now when someone opens the file, they'll see this little bar at the top of the window,
and they won't be able to type or delete anything.
If they do need to make changes, they can click the button that says Edit Anyway.
In short, this option doesn't provide any actual security; however, it's a good way
to keep people from changing or deleting something by accident.
Now you know some ways to finalize and also protect your workbook before sending it out
to others.