How to: Protect a Chart

• Sep 19, 2023
• 2 minutes to read

After you create a chart, you can apply chart protection to prevent your chart from being modified by a user. To protect a chart, utilize the ChartOptions.Protection property. After chart protection is specified, the chart becomes completely locked, so that a user cannot select the chart, modify its elements or change chart data references.

You can also protect the entire worksheet where the chart is located by using the Worksheet.Protect method. For detailed information on the protection functionality, refer to the Protection section.

The following example demonstrates how to create a clustered column chart and apply chart protection using the ChartOptions.Protection property.

View Example

Protection.cs

Worksheet worksheet = workbook.Worksheets["chartTask3"];
workbook.Worksheets.ActiveWorksheet = worksheet;

// Create a chart and specify its location.
Chart chart = worksheet.Charts.Add(ChartType.ColumnClustered, worksheet["B2:D4"]);
chart.TopLeftCell = worksheet.Cells["H2"];
chart.BottomRightCell = worksheet.Cells["N14"];

// Specify the chart style.
chart.Style = ChartStyle.ColorDark;

// Apply the chart protection.
chart.Options.Protection = ChartProtection.All;

Protection.vb

Dim worksheet As Worksheet = workbook.Worksheets("chartTask3")
workbook.Worksheets.ActiveWorksheet = worksheet

' Create a chart and specify its location.
Dim chart As Chart = worksheet.Charts.Add(ChartType.ColumnClustered, worksheet("B2:D4"))
chart.TopLeftCell = worksheet.Cells("H2")
chart.BottomRightCell = worksheet.Cells("N14")

' Specify the chart style.
chart.Style = ChartStyle.ColorDark

' Apply the chart protection.
chart.Options.Protection = ChartProtection.All