HOW TO CREATE A HANDS-OFF SECTION OF A SPREADSHEET
I often distribute complex spreadsheets so
colleagues can enter their own information. But I don’t want them to
access any of the other parts of the document. How can I create a
hands-off section?
One of the easiest ways is to use the Visual for Basic
Applications (VBA) editor. Now don’t get nervous; it’s not really high
tech and it’s easy to implement. Begin by right-clicking on the sheet
tab of the worksheet to which you want to add protection; in the
screenshot below, that’s Sheet1 . When the context
menu opens, click on View Code .
That, in turn, will open the Properties-Sheet1 code window (see screenshot below). If the Properties window fails to open, press F4.
In the box next to ScrollArea, enter the range of the area you want available for data entry; in this case I made it $A$1:$C$7 . It must be a contiguous area. The rest of the worksheet is now cordoned off.
Finally, close the VBA editor and the worksheet is ready to go.
