How to make a formula-based cell read-only in MS Excel?

Question

I'm trying to create a unique ID for each row in Excel, based on the formula [RowNum + X] (X is given). The formula autocompletes on each new row, based on Excel Tables. After creating the new row, I wish to make the ID cell Read-Only, thus not changeable afterwards. Is this possible?

Answer 1

You can lock cells in a sheet.

First, you can just turn off the protection settings on all the cells of your sheet by selecting all of them (Ctrl+A) go to their properties (Ctrl+1) and in the protection tab uncheck Locked.

Then, turn it on only for the cells you want to protect. By selecting them and checking the Locked property the same way you unchecked it before.

To conclude, in the review tab click the Protect Sheet button to enforce the settings.

This should make people unable to change the formula in your ID column.