Learn how to hide a sheet in Microsoft Excel with a password using tried and tested methods.

Sometimes you need to keep a sensitive worksheet hidden in a shared Excel file. Sure, hiding it keeps it out of sight—but it’s still there, and anyone can unhide it with just a few clicks.

That defeats the purpose, especially when you’re dealing with financial data, strategic plans, or confidential lists. This is where password protection makes all the difference. By locking the sheet with a password, you make sure only the right people can access it, while everyone else sees only what they need to. It’s a simple step that adds a strong layer of control and privacy.

Follow along with me as I show you the effortless methods to hide a worksheet and protect this with a password encryption system. Let’s get started.

Hide Sheet & Protect Workbook Structure

Hiding a sheet in an Excel workbook and protecting the workbook structure is the most popular method to hide a worksheet in Excel with a password. Let me walk you through the steps below:

Open your Excel workbook that contains the sheet you want to hide. Make sure you save a backup copy first, just in case you need to make changes later.

Locate the sheet you want to hide by checking the tabs at the bottom of the Excel window. Click on that sheet’s tab to make it active.

Right-click directly on the sheet tab you want to hide. A small menu will pop up—click Hide from that list. The sheet will now disappear from view, but it’s still part of the workbook.

Hiding alone doesn’t protect the sheet from being revealed again. To prevent others from unhiding it, you need to protect the workbook structure.

Go to the Review tab in the top ribbon menu. This tab contains several tools for protecting your Excel file.

Inside the Review tab, find and click on Protect Workbook. A dialog box titled Protect Structure and Windows (or simply Protect Workbook, depending on your Excel version) will open.

Make sure the Structure checkbox is checked. This option locks the workbook’s structure, which means users cannot insert, delete, rename, move, or unhide sheets unless they know the password.

In the same dialog box, type a password in the Password field. Choose something secure but easy for you to remember. This password will be required to unlock the workbook later.

Click OK. Excel will now ask you to re-enter the password for confirmation. Carefully type it again and click OK once more.

The workbook is now protected. Even if someone knows how to unhide sheets, they won’t be able to do it without the password.

To confirm it’s working, try right-clicking on another visible sheet tab. You’ll notice the Unhide option is either disabled or won’t show any hidden sheets unless the protection is removed.

Always keep your password stored somewhere safe. If you forget it, you won’t be able to unprotect the workbook or access the hidden sheet later.

Move Sheet to Another Workbook and Protect That File

Open the Excel workbook that contains the sheet you want to hide from others. Make sure all the data on that sheet is final or ready to be separated.

Right-click on the sheet tab you want to hide. From the pop-up menu, select Move or Copy. This option allows you to transfer the sheet to another workbook.

In the Move or Copy dialog box, look for the drop-down that says To book. From that drop-down, choose (new book). This will move the selected sheet to an entirely new workbook file.

Since you want to hide and don’t want to keep the sheet in the source workbook, uncheck the box that says Create a copy before clicking OK.

Click OK to confirm. Excel will automatically open a new workbook with just that sheet in it.

Save the new workbook by pressing Ctrl + S or by clicking File > Save As. Choose a location, name the file something appropriate, and save it in Excel Workbook format (*.xlsx).

Now, it’s time to protect this new workbook file with a password. Click File in the top-left corner of the new workbook, then click Info in the sidebar.

Under the Info section, click the Protect Workbook button.

From the drop-down menu, choose Encrypt with Password.

A dialog box will appear asking you to enter a password. Type in a strong, memorable password and click OK. You’ll be asked to re-enter the password to confirm—type it again and click OK once more.

Save the workbook again to make sure the encryption takes effect. Press Ctrl + S or go to File > Save.

Close the newly saved and protected workbook. Now, only someone with the password can open and view the sheet you moved.

Return to your original workbook. The sensitive sheet is no longer there, so you can safely share this version without exposing confidential data.

Make sure you store the password and the protected workbook file in a secure location. Without the password, you won’t be able to open or recover the sheet later.

Password-Protect Entire Workbook With Hidden Sheet

Open your Excel workbook and find the sheet you want to hide. Make sure all the data on that sheet is ready and doesn’t need further editing.

Click the sheet tab at the bottom of the Excel window to make the sheet active.

Right-click on the selected sheet tab. A small menu will appear—click Hide from the list. The sheet will now be hidden from view, but it’s still part of the file.

Double-check that the sheet is no longer visible in the sheet tab area. If it’s no longer listed, the hide action was successful.

Now, to prevent others from accessing or unhiding that sheet, you’ll apply a password to the entire workbook file using the Save As method.

Click on File in the top-left corner of Excel to open the backstage view.

Click Save As, then choose the location where you want to save the protected file—this could be on your computer or in OneDrive.

In the Save As dialog box that appears, choose the folder and enter a name for your file.

Before clicking Save, look toward the bottom-right corner of the dialog box. You’ll see a drop-down labeled Tools right next to the Save button. Click on it.

From the Tools menu, select General Options. This will open a small pop-up window for password settings.

In the General Options window, you’ll see two password fields: Password to open and Password to modify.

In the Password to open field, enter a password. This password will be required to open the Excel file.

You can also enter a second password in Password to modify if you want to allow others to view the file, but restrict editing.

Click OK once you’ve entered your password(s). Excel will now ask you to confirm each password you entered. Type them again and click OK.

You’ll be returned to the Save As dialog box. Click Save to finish the process.

Your Excel workbook is now saved with password protection. Anyone who tries to open the file will need the correct password.

The hidden sheet remains invisible inside the file and cannot be accessed unless the person opens the workbook first.

Be sure to store the password in a safe place. If you forget it, you won’t be able to open the file again.

Hide a Sheet in Excel With a Password Using VBA

You can automate this process of hiding a sheet in Excel and then protecting the source or destination workbook with a password using an Excel VBA macro.

Setting up a macro from a VBA script is quite easy if you go through this Microsoft Excel tutorial:

📒 Read More: 15 Ways to Run a VBA Macro in Microsoft Excel

Now, use the following Excel VBA script to create a VBA macro that’ll hide a sheet in Excel with a password.

⚠️ Warning: Before running this script, ensure you have backed up the source workbook. Any changes that you make in the workbook can’t be undone since you’re using an Excel macro using VBA.

Sub HideSheetWithPassword()
    Dim sheetName As String
    Dim ws As Worksheet
    Dim pw As String
    Dim sheetExists As Boolean
    Dim answer As VbMsgBoxResult

    ' Ask for sheet name
    sheetName = InputBox("Enter the name of the sheet you want to hide:", "Hide Sheet")

    If sheetName = "" Then
        MsgBox "No sheet name provided.", vbExclamation
        Exit Sub
    End If

    sheetExists = False
    For Each ws In ThisWorkbook.Worksheets
        If ws.Name = sheetName Then
            sheetExists = True
            Exit For
        End If
    Next ws

    If Not sheetExists Then
        MsgBox "Sheet '" & sheetName & "' does not exist.", vbCritical
        Exit Sub
    End If

    ' Hide the sheet
    Worksheets(sheetName).Visible = xlSheetHidden

    ' Ask for password to protect workbook structure
    pw = InputBox("Enter a password to lock the workbook structure (prevents unhiding):", "Set Protection Password")

    If pw = "" Then
        MsgBox "No password provided. Sheet is hidden, but not protected.", vbInformation
        Exit Sub
    End If

    ' Protect the workbook structure
    ThisWorkbook.Protect Structure:=True, Password:=pw

    MsgBox "Sheet '" & sheetName & "' is now hidden and the workbook is protected with your password.", vbInformation
End Sub

Press Alt + F8 to launch the Macro dialog. Select a macro from the list and hit Run to execute the script.

A dialog box will ask you the name of the worksheet you wish to hide. Once you enter the sheet name, the process begins.

This method will stop the workbook structure editing features from the Excel Options tool.

That’s it! No one can unhide the hidden sheet as long as it’s protected by a password that first unlocks the workbook and then the worksheet.

Conclusions

Now you know how to hide a sheet in Microsoft Excel with a password. Above, you’ve found both user interface-button-based and VBA macro-based methods to hide the sheet and lock the workbook.

If you liked this Excel guide, use the comment box to share an acknowledgment. If you wish to share suggestions and feedback, you’re also welcome.