Protect most of a spreadsheet

DeaconFrost

DeaconFrost

[H]F Junkie
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Sep 6, 2007
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I'm having a hell of a time figuring this one out, but it is probably something simple I am missing. My finance team has created a spreadsheet with various data on it, that they update once a month. Each team's VP is supposed to go in and add thier comments to one column. The problem is, they end up clicking around and resizing columns, deleting numbers, etc.

Is it possible, in Excel 2007, to have an entire worksheet protected by a password, with the exception of one particular column, in this case, called Comments?

Let's say I have columns A through E filled with data. If a person tries to click to edit any of those cells, they get prompted for a password. If that person tried to type into column F, they can without issue, and can then save the file.

Is this possible...or something that would work very similar to this? If additional info is needed, let me know. Thanks!
 
How do I protect a worksheet?

Activate the worksheet to be protected, then choose Tools - Protection - Protect Sheet. You will be asked to provide a password (optional). If you do provide a password, that password will be required to unprotect the worksheet.

I tried the procedure outlined above, and it doesn't let me change any cells! I only want to protect some of the cells, not all of them.

Every cell has two key attributes: Locked and Hidden. By default, all cells are locked, but they are not hidden. Furthermore, the Locked and Hidden attributes come into play only when the worksheet is protected. In order to allow a particular cell to be changed when the worksheet is protected, you must unlock that cell.

How do I unlock a cell?
Select the cell or cells that you want to unlock.
Choose Format - Cells
In the Format Cells dialog box, click the Protection tab
Remove the checkmark from the Locked checkbox

http://spreadsheetpage.com/index.php/tip/spreadsheet_protection_faq1/


It's a pretty old page, but it still works. Protect the page, click on column "C" or what have you, and unlock it under the protection tab. Hope that helps you out!
 
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Those steps don't work anymore, unfortunately. Once you lock the work sheet, you can't get to the format cells option to unlock them.

EDIT: I think I figured it out. You have to reverse the steps. You have to go into Format Cells and choose which ones are locked or unclocked first....and then protect the worksheet.

Thanks for pointing me in the right direction!
 
Ahh, ok. Glad you got it figured out, excel has a lot of nifty features if you just know how to phrase the problem.
 
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