Abundant thanks for the research. Your helpful explanation puts it all at
least in a context that makes sense. I still think it's unnecessary change
in arrow key behavior in some situations, but maybe it is helpful in others
....

Thank you again Doug.

Bill.



"Doug Glancy" wrote in message
...
William,

I was able to reproduce what you say here, except that I found that the
down arrow took me down to row 11 of the 3 columns I highlighted. If I
clicked on a cell in an unlocked column below row 11, it took me back up
to the top of the first column, just as you describe.

I did a Google Groups search on "down arrow select locked cells
group:*excel.programming*" and with some reading of old replies (Tom O and
KeepItCool) here's what it seems is happening: the down arrow only cycles
me through cells that are part of the usedrange plus 1 row. For example,
the reason i was originally able to down arrow to row 11 was because i'd
changed the backcolor down to row 10. When I colored cells down to row 20
i could then down arrow to row 21 in the unlocked columns.

hth,

Doug

"William Benson" wrote in message
...
Here's something wierd, Excel 2003. I highlighted some columns and from
Format Cells Protection tab unchecked the Locked checkbox, so these
columns would be editable even after protecting the worksheet.

I then turned on protection and unchecked the box that says "Select
locked cells". Basically, my intention is to block users from selecting
cells outside of the columns I highlighted. So far so good, and it works
well to lock out people from entering those cells or reading the formulas
(except through code). Here's what's wierd though: No matter where in
the unlocked region I click, the down and up arrow keys are disabled.
They take me to row 1 and just cycle through unlocked cells there. This
is gonna tick off the user more than just locking them out of certain
columns, I can bet that much.

Bill