I am building a form and:

1. need to limit the text response to 500 characters in a single cell.
2. need to protect all the cells except those I want the user to enter
information in

Can anyone help me?
--
Regards ~ tates

You can use Data Validation on the Data menu to limit the amount of
text entered in a cell. Select the cell(s) whose input you want to
restrict, go to the Data menu and choose Validation. There, choose
"Text Length" in the Allow list and enter the minimum and/or maximum
allowable text lengths.

By default, all cells are locked so when you protect the sheet, all
cells will be locked. Select the cells you want the user to have
access, go to the Format menu, choose Cells and there choose the
Protection tab. Uncheck the "Locked" option and click OK.

Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP
Excel Product Group
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com
(email on web site)

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:22:04 -0800, tates
wrote:

I am building a form and:

1. need to limit the text response to 500 characters in a single cell.
2. need to protect all the cells except those I want the user to enter
information in

Can anyone help me?

2.. By default all cells on a sheet are locked when the sheet is protected.

Select cells to enter data and FormatCellsProtection. Uncheck "locked"
and OK

ToolsProtectionProtect Sheet

1. Can be done through Data Validation but you will have some very PO'd
people who type 500 + characters and are told that is not valid and have to
re-type.

Why the 500 char limit?

Perhaps some event code that will truncate all but the first 500 characters?


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:22:04 -0800, tates
wrote:

I am building a form and:

1. need to limit the text response to 500 characters in a single cell.
2. need to protect all the cells except those I want the user to enter
information in

Can anyone help me?

THANK YOU ~~ THANK YOU
I've always used Word to build forms and templates so this has been a
learning experience for me. I have 3 drop down lists that had more than the
25 limited in Word. Someone here at Sterling told me that Excel would allow
a list of 300+. So Ive been using the MS Training site to get up to speed.
Thanks so much for your speedy response.
--
Regards ~ tates


"Chip Pearson" wrote:

You can use Data Validation on the Data menu to limit the amount of
text entered in a cell. Select the cell(s) whose input you want to
restrict, go to the Data menu and choose Validation. There, choose
"Text Length" in the Allow list and enter the minimum and/or maximum
allowable text lengths.

By default, all cells are locked so when you protect the sheet, all
cells will be locked. Select the cells you want the user to have
access, go to the Format menu, choose Cells and there choose the
Protection tab. Uncheck the "Locked" option and click OK.

Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP
Excel Product Group
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com
(email on web site)

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:22:04 -0800, tates
wrote:

I am building a form and:

1. need to limit the text response to 500 characters in a single cell.
2. need to protect all the cells except those I want the user to enter
information in

Can anyone help me?

Okay - one more tweek and I think I have it. In Word you can set a
form/template so that the user can tab from field to field to enter
information. Can Excel also do this?
--
Regards ~ tates


"Chip Pearson" wrote:

You can use Data Validation on the Data menu to limit the amount of
text entered in a cell. Select the cell(s) whose input you want to
restrict, go to the Data menu and choose Validation. There, choose
"Text Length" in the Allow list and enter the minimum and/or maximum
allowable text lengths.

By default, all cells are locked so when you protect the sheet, all
cells will be locked. Select the cells you want the user to have
access, go to the Format menu, choose Cells and there choose the
Protection tab. Uncheck the "Locked" option and click OK.

Cordially,
Chip Pearson
Microsoft MVP
Excel Product Group
Pearson Software Consulting, LLC
www.cpearson.com
(email on web site)

On Mon, 15 Dec 2008 07:22:04 -0800, tates
wrote:

I am building a form and:

1. need to limit the text response to 500 characters in a single cell.
2. need to protect all the cells except those I want the user to enter
information in

Can anyone help me?