UNLOCKING SELECTED CELLS Excel 2003, Excel 2007

IF you are not comfortable with creating forms in your document, and yet need to take user inputs you can create a semi-locked range of cells. All you need to do is create a range of cells containing fi xed values and editable values.

In Excel, the cells are locked by default, but the users can still edit their content unless you protect the worksheet as explained below. Carry out the following steps for Excel 2003:

Open the workbook to which restriction needs to be applied.
Next, fill out the details that you want to keep fixed in the cell range of your choice.
Select the required cell range that can be edited.
Go to the 'Format | Cells'.
Go to the 'Protection' tab of the 'Format Cells' dialog box.
Uncheck the 'Locked' option for the selected range of cells.
Next, go to the 'Tools | Protection | Protect Sheet'..
Check the 'Protect worksheet and contents of locked cells' option in the 'Protect Sheet' dialog box.
Next, check 'Select unlocked cells' option from the 'Allow all users of this worksheet to:' section.
Type a password if required.
Click 'OK' to continue.

If you plan to use Excel 2007 instead, carry out the following steps:

Open the workbook.
Fill out the details that you want to keep fixed in the cell range of your choice.
Select the required cell range that can be edited.
Go to the 'Home' tab.
Click the 'Format' option appearing under the 'Cells' group of the tab.
Select the 'Lock Cell' option from the drop-down list to unlock the cells.
Next, click the 'Format' option under the 'Cells' group of the tab once again.
This time select the 'Protect Sheet...' option from the drop-down list to unlock the cells.
Check the 'Protect worksheet and contents of locked cells' option in the 'Protect Sheet' dialog box.
Next, check the 'Select unlocked cells' option from the 'Allow all users of this worksheet to:' section of the dialog box.
Type a password if required.
Click 'OK' to continue. Your worksheet is ready to be used.