Can a workbook be locked against change to cells containing references to other files?
 

Hi all. I've been experiencing the same frustration in several
projects. When I lock and protect a file with cell references to
another file, if someone changes the referenced file, the protected
file will get changed. I'm torn between the convenience of the
references, and the loss of control of allowing others to affect my
file without knowing what's changing.

The only safety feature I see is the prompt that pops up asking if I
want to update reference files when the file is opened, but I'm looking
for something more idiot-proof. I have several people using and saving
these files and I'm afraid they might just say 'yes' blindly. I want to
either be able to disable the "yes" option, or at least highlight the
changes and then ask for confirmation, or something along those lines.
I noticed something in VBA called "event change" which might let me
trigger something when anything changes in my file, but I don't really
know what to do with it. Track Changes doesn't seem to work, although
I thought it would. Any ideas?

Thanks!