This could be much easier if you used access. But if you are using excel you
have two options.

1) Create a massive amount of if statements in a formula
2) Create a select case code in a worksheet event

The first choice does not allow you to block or change a cells appearance
other then the text written in it. The second choice requires VBA knowledge.
Either way, unless you only have 3 options and could use custom formatting
this would be complicated if you do not know what you are doing.

"Jen" wrote:

I am relatively new to the more technical side of Excel and can't figure out
one particular issue. I have a large number of columns in my spreadsheet, but
some only need to be filled out if a particular value is chosen from a
drop-down menu. For example, if the user has the option of choosing "apple",
"orange", "pear" or "banana" from a list, I want them to then fill out some
more information based on that choice - if they pick "apple" then I may want
to know how red it was, whether it had a leaf on etc. But if they pick
"banana" then I don't need to know that information - I need to know other
things instead.

Is there a way to "grey out" or lock particular cells in Excel so that they
will only be unlocked and available for data entry if a certain value is
entered in a different cell? In other words, the ability to enter data in
certain columns is dependent on a previous choice?

I hope I managed to make sense there... Thanks!