Protecting Your Worksheets |
When distributing worksheets, you may wish to restrict user access to most regions. Rather than locking an area, you may opt instead to use worksheet protection.
Worksheet protection is a two-step process:
By default, Mathcad enables protection for every region created in an unprotected worksheet, unless you explicitly disable protection on a region.
Mathcad provides three levels of worksheet protection for you to use, depending upon your needs:
With file protection enabled, the worksheet can only be saved in one of the following formats:
The intent of file protection is to prevent other users from opening the worksheet in a text editor and editing its contents by hand. The allowed file formats are either binary (XMCDZ, MCD) or output-only (RTF, HTML). With file protection enabled, you can only alter the contents of a worksheet from Mathcad. You can create, edit, and delete regions within the worksheet with no restrictions.
Includes file protection. Existing regions cannot be changed. New regions can be created and protected regions can be copied.
Use content protection to prevent changes to protected content while allowing others to add their own content. Note that added content can change the result of a protected expression.
Includes content protection. Protected regions cannot be edited or copied. No new regions can be created in the worksheet.
Use edit-level protection to prevent any changes to the worksheet, except those made to unprotected regions. Edit-level protection is particularly useful for creating calculation templates for other Mathcad users, with edits restricted to essential variables.
| To Protect Your Worksheet |
Choose Protect Worksheet from the Tools menu. To disable worksheet protection, choose Unprotect Worksheet from the same menu.
You also have the option to set a password, to prevent unauthorized users from disabling protection on your worksheet. Passwords provide a secondary level or protection from accidental editing by preventing users from accidentally disabling protection for the worksheet. Use of a password should not be construed as making a worksheet secure.
To disable protection for a specific region within a protected worksheet: