You've prepared a report template and sent it out to your colleagues to input data.

It comes back and you realize: they messed up your formulas. Argh! Not again! 🤦‍♀️

If only you had used protection...

Today in Between the Sheets:

• the ins and outs of protecting Excel files
• Excel Black Belts stay on top of new features
• hiding the Copilot icon for good

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🔐 Protect your work in Excel

Tired of fixing broken formulas?

Tracking down who messed up the numbers this time? Or worse - deleted an important column?

It’s frustrating. But you can stop the chaos before it starts.

Excel has built-in protection features to help. You'll find them on the Review tab.

🔒 When you Protect Sheet with a password, no one can edit the cells.

Perhaps you can hide the password inside detailed instructions. That way only those who have actually read them can make changes 😉

Or restrict them only to certain areas.

👉 For a step-by-step guide, check out our blog post.

🔏 Cool tip: For multiple access levels, use Allow Edit Ranges.

This allows you to create different passwords for different people, in the areas they're responsible for.

For example, only HR can populate the bonus information. And only the Manager can approve it.

For anyone else, it stays locked.

Set up the ranges and the passwords, then Protect Sheet.

🔒 Want to keep the structure intact as well?

Protect Workbook stops users from adding, deleting or renaming sheets.

Just don't lose track of your passwords. While possible to unlock without one, it is a bit of a hassle.

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Excel keeps evolving... Black Belts don't get left behind. New features. New functions. Constant updates. Falling behind is easy - unless you have the right system. That’s why we’ve just added a brand-new Excel 365 updates section to the Excel Black Belt Bundle. This way you'll know what’s new, when it’s rolling out, and how to use it instantly. With our Black Belt, you get to: ✔ Master Excel from beginner to pro: Power Query, Power Pivot, VBA automation, dashboards, and more. ✔ New: Stay ahead with the Excel 365 updates section ✔ Lifetime access so you always have the latest tools at your fingertips Join the Black Belt Bundle today Already enrolled? Check your Black Belt dashboard for the new Excel 365 updates section.

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🤓 Geeky News

👨‍✈️ Disable the Copilot icon in Excel and Word

If you weren't a fan of the floating Copilot icon that hid the contents of the cells, you can now disable it permanently. Kinda.

As promised, Microsoft has added Copilot to Excel Options (File > Options > Copilot).

Currently, it only has the checkbox to "Show Copilot icon only for highly relevant suggestions".

When you check it, it will hide the icon from showing up all the time. It might still pop up when it deems some data relevant to its suggestions.

You can still access Copilot suggestions from the right-click menu or open the Copilot pane using the button on the Home tab.

You also get Options for working with Copilot in Word. There, you can automatically collapse Copilot summary.

Perhaps in time, there will be more Copilot settings we can control via the Options menu.

👋 Wave goodbye to these Microsoft products

Microsoft is doing some spring cleaning and discontinues apps that have fallen out of popularity.

By May 2025, it's shutting down Skype. Once synonymous with online video calls, it's been mostly replaced by Zoom and Teams. Users can transition to Microsoft Teams with their Skype contacts, call logs and message history.

Also in May 2025, Microsoft's ending the support for the Remote Desktop app. It's going to be replaced by the Windows App used to connect to virtual desktops. Note that this doesn't affect (for now) the Remote Desktop Connection utility included in Windows OS and used to connect to remote devices on local networks.

​Publisher is going away in October 2026. It was part of the Office suite, useful for designing covers, brochures, and flyers. Microsoft recommends converting your existing .pub files to .pdf or Word.

Will you miss any of the apps going away?

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❤️ A YouTube Event Like No Other

I just got back from a YouTube creators conference in Zurich - and it wasn’t what I expected.

Some events feel transactional. Some feel like a show. But this was different.

There’s a reason I’ve been on YouTube this long. And after this event, I’m even more certain why.

I shared the experience (and some behind-the-scenes surprises) on LinkedIn.

Read it here.

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👏 Power Stories

Congratulations to David for completing Unlock Excel VBA & Excel Macros course! 🥳🙌

Learning through problem-solving is one of the best methods to fully grasp and understand the concepts. It makes it easier to apply the learning to any scenario.

Good luck with any automation challenges ahead! Keep up the persistent attitude 🦾

Got a success story about using your XelPlus skills? I’d love to hear it! Hit reply to share the details, and inspire other students 😇

See you next week,

Leila

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