Hiding and Locking columns

[PhilH]

Using Office 2003/Office XP

I have a wages/overtime XL spreadsheet where I wish to
hide columns A to D from a user - and ensure he cannot
unhide those columns , yet allow him to input data to
columns E to G.

When he sends me the spreadsheet back, I then wish to
select the whole worksheet and easily 'unhide'the
previously hidden columns- so I can see the calculations.

Whta's the best way of going about this?

 

[Frank Kabel]

Hi
try the following:
- select all the cells for which you want to allow input
- goto 'Format - Cells - Protection' and uncheck 'Locked' for these
cells
- Hide the column A (Format - Columns')
- Protect your worksheet 'Tools - Protection')

 

[Andy B]

Hi

The only problem with this solution is that if you were to hide columns A to
D, there is nothing to stop him typing =A1 in a cell and copying across and
down to expose the data.

Another way is to put the information on a separate sheet and make the sheet
'very hidden'. To do this, right-click on the icon to the right of 'File' in
your menu bar, and click on View Code. Select your sheet in the Project
window and hit F4 to bring up the properties window. The last option is
Visible, which you can select and change to Hidden or Very Hidden.

 

[philh]

Sterling answers from both Frank and Andy - thankyou,
especially the thought about the copying across - most
helpful