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!

I am not an expert on Excel but in my opinion using worksheet functions it
may not be possible to do what you want. For that you may have to program a
visual basic code to achieve what you want.

If you post this question in the programming section of Excel you may get
some replies.

Best of luck.

"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!

Have a look at Debra Dalgleish's site on dependent Data Validation:

http://www.contextures.com/xlDataVal02.html

You may be able to adapt the concepts to do what you wish, where you
select a fruit in the first pull-down, and then select from another
pull-down of pre-defined choices for that fruit (and so on).

Hope this helps.

Pete

On Feb 23, 4:14*pm, DKS wrote:
I am not an expert on Excel but in my opinion using worksheet functions it
may not be possible to do what you want. *For that you may have to program a
visual basic code to achieve what you want.

If you post this question in the programming section of Excel you may get
some replies.

Best of luck.



"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!- Hide quoted text -

- Show quoted text -