How do I lock(protect, prevent others from inputting data into)an.

U

ucastores

I am trying to develop a spreadsheet that has formulas in it. I don't want
the end users to be able to input anything into those cells with the
formulas. I know how to protect an entire spreadsheet but can't seem to
figure out how to do an individual cell. The end users need to be able to
input into some cells in the spreadsheet but not the ones with the formulas.
I'm using MS office, excel 2002.
 
P

Paul B

By default all cells in excel are protected or locked, select the cells you
want to unlock and go to format, cells, protection and uncheck locked, the
go to tools, protection, and protect sheet, enter a password if you want,
now only the cells that you unlocked can be edited.



If you only need a few locked I would select them all first, Ctrl A, then
go to format, cells, protection and uncheck locked, then select the cells
you want to lock and go to format cells and check locked, the go to tools,
protection, and protect sheet, enter a password if you want, now the cells
that you locked can not be edited
--
Paul B
Always backup your data before trying something new
Please post any response to the newsgroups so others can benefit from it
Feedback on answers is always appreciated!
Using Excel 2000 & 2003
** remove news from my email address to reply by email **
 
D

David McRitchie

What are you trying to allow and what are you trying to prevent.

The password protections are mainly a protection against
accidents and people not that familiar with Excel.

If you just want a readable worksheet you could convert the
workbook with some macros to a workbook with only values
then anyone could look at it with Office Reader, with Open Office
even if they don't have Excel. You could convert the converted
worksheet to HTML. If you converted the original spreadsheet to
HTML your formulas would be included and simply pasting back
into Excel (round trip back to Excel is "Round Tripping"), you would
have a fully functional worksheet with formulas.

You might convert the worksheets to PDF, which is not the
easiest solution, but it might be what you want. There are
free converters and methods that can be used.
http://www.mvps.org/dmcritchie/excel/pdf.htm
 
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