I've just disproved my last theory. I have some cells where data entry is
from a drop-down box, and these also cover merged cells. In these instances
I am able to clear the contents by pressing the delete key, or by using Clear
Contents after right-clicking the cell.

"Sue C" wrote:

Yes, I haven't gone live with the spreadsheet yet, it's just me testing it,
so I'm sure it's what's happening. I can 'empty' a cell by pressing the
space bar (so, effectively overtyping my previous entry), but if I press the
Delete key then I get the sheet protection message. Since my original post
I've done some more playing around and it doesn't seem that all cells are
affected. I can't be absolutely sure, but suspect the ones that are acting
strangely are ones where cells have been merged. Is this likely to be the
cause? I'm using 2007 if that makes any difference.

"Dave Peterson" wrote:

Are you sure that this is what's happening?

Could it be that the users are clearing the cells (not clearing the contents),
then get the error when they try to add a new value to that previously unlocked
cell?

It this describes the problem, then you have a couple of choices.

#1. Teach the user to use Edit|Clear|Contents (not Edit|Clear|All) or just hit
the delete key to clear the contents of the cell.

#2. Change the normal style of your workbook so that the default cell
protection is not locked.

In xl2003 menus:
Format|style
Select Normal from the dropdown at the top
Click the modify button
Select the protection tab and uncheck Locked

Now when the users clear (completely clear--not clear contents), the cell will
return to normal--and you've made the normal protection Unlocked.

But Styles live in workbooks. You'll have to do this for each workbook that
needs it.

Sue C wrote:

I have a spreadsheet which allows users to enter values, and then
automatically calculates various summaries from this. Before protecting the
sheet I have Locked the cells which have formulas in them, but left the
others Unlocked for data entry. This works fine until the user tries to
delete an entry they have made into an Unlocked cell, at which point they
receive an error message saying that the sheet is protected. As they are
only trying to clear an entry that they have made, I want to allow them to do
so, and can't really understand why Excel is blocking this when the cell
isn't Locked. Any suggestions? Thanks. Sue

--

Dave Peterson