Protecting cells
 

I have a spreadsheet in which the user shall be able to change some cells
completely, only change vaule in some (i.e. the cannot change formulas) and
some cells that the user is unable to change at all. I have never undertood
how you can do this in Excel, I know that there is some protection function
but I have not had any sucess with that. Please help me if you know how! Any
help is very much appreciated!

Protecting cells
 

Hi.
There are only two possibilities. You can allow users TO CHANGE or NOT
TO CHANGE the CONTENT some cells, being it data or formulas.
You can allow changes to formatting and some other, but not to the
content of cells.


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Protecting cells
 

Search for 'Locking Cells' in EXCEL help. This returned many options for me.
In my experience, to proctect individual cells you you must make sure the
cells are 'locked.' You can very this by Format/Cells/Protection. Once
locked, you must then 'protect' the sheet by Tools/Protection/Unprotect or
Protect Sheet. A password is optional. Please note that by default all
cells are locked. If you wish changes to be made to an individual cell the
'locked' box must be unchecked before protecting the sheet.

T Tipsy


"Freddie Mac" wrote:

I have a spreadsheet in which the user shall be able to change some cells
completely, only change vaule in some (i.e. the cannot change formulas) and
some cells that the user is unable to change at all. I have never undertood
how you can do this in Excel, I know that there is some protection function
but I have not had any sucess with that. Please help me if you know how! Any
help is very much appreciated!

Protecting cells
 

Freddie

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

Hit CRTL + A(twice if xl2003) then FormatCellsProtection. Uncheck "locked"
and OK.

Select the cells you wish to lock and FormatCellsProtection. Check "locked"
and OK.

Now ToolsProtectionProtect Sheet. This is mandatory!!

You can set a password to unprotect. These can easily be broken in Excel but
will keep your formulas from being accidentally overwritten.


Gord Dibben Excel MVP

On Fri, 30 Jun 2006 07:38:02 -0700, Freddie Mac
wrote:

I have a spreadsheet in which the user shall be able to change some cells
completely, only change vaule in some (i.e. the cannot change formulas) and
some cells that the user is unable to change at all. I have never undertood
how you can do this in Excel, I know that there is some protection function
but I have not had any sucess with that. Please help me if you know how! Any
help is very much appreciated!

Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

Protecting cells
 

Just two things to add to what has already been said.

You mentioned three conditions (free access to a cell, can't change formula,
can't do anything). I think the "unable to change at all" comes from one of
the options when you use the Protect sheet function. There are several
options as to what to allow or disallow while the sheet is protected. One of
those options is "Select Locked Cells". Normally that is permitted. But if
you clear that checkbox, then the user is not even allowed to select a locked
cell once the sheet is protected. Excel then goes to the next unlocked cell
when a user presses the enter or tab key while on a sheet like that. This
can be used to "guide" the user to all of the cells where they can enter data
or make other changes.

To expand a little on wheat Gord Dibben said, all cells on a sheet are
Locked by default initially. If you only want users to have access to a very
few cells, then it's easy just to select those few and unlock them. But if
you want only a few cells to be locked, then it's usually easier to start as
he said - by unlocking them all and then going back and just locking the few
that you need to be secure from change.

"Freddie Mac" wrote:

I have a spreadsheet in which the user shall be able to change some cells
completely, only change vaule in some (i.e. the cannot change formulas) and
some cells that the user is unable to change at all. I have never undertood
how you can do this in Excel, I know that there is some protection function
but I have not had any sucess with that. Please help me if you know how! Any
help is very much appreciated!