Abstract: The present invention relates to the field of information processing by digital computers and, more particularly, to a method and system, in an electronic spreadsheet, for easily swapping the protection mode of a cell between a protected mode and an unprotected mode, while preserving the mathematical formulas used in the protected mode The electronic spreadsheet includes a cell content manager with an interface for handling the content of user specified cells according to the read-only, protected mode where a cell is usually filled by a formula, and the read-write, unprotected mode with a free update of the cell by the spreadsheet user. Preferred display methodology is also described for representing the current mode of a given cell.