Skydiver wrote:

1. Is there a way to tab into/out of the textbox and begin typing within the
textbox instead of having to click in it?

You can activate a text box using a simple 1 line macro which can be
assigned to a button combination ...

ActiveSheet.Shapes("The Name of Your Text Box").Select

If unsure, just record a macro.

2. Can I lock this textbox where one cannot move it around the
sheet/form?

The answer to this may depend on the version of Excel you are using but
in v2003 it is possible to format the text box such that the box is
locked but not the text. When you then lock the worksheet you can write
in the box but not move it.