Locking Cells with Calculations in them

[CIMS]

Hello,

Currently, I have a spreadsheet where the user will pick a choice from a drop down combo box. Depending on the selection, 5 other cells all have different calculations performed in them.


What I want to do is lock all of the cells so that the user can not go in and change the calculations in them but still be able to have the calculations performed. When I tried locking the cells and protecting the worksheet, it wouldn't let the calculations be performed because they were trying to change the value of a locked cell. Having the calculations performed depending on the combo list selection and still not allowing the user to change the values or equations in any of the cells would be my ideal situation.

Thank you very much for any help.

 

[Gettingbetter]

Hello,

To decide which cells can and can't be changed once the sheet is protected, you need to unprotect the sheet. Then choose which cells you want to be able to change (in your case its the cell changed by the combo drop down. Then Click (from the toolbar) Format, Cells, then choose the protection tab, and untick locked.

Then you can re protect your sheet

Cheers
GB

 

[CIMS]

Hello,

Thank you for the help. I was trying to do what you said from the start before making the post but it wouldn't work so I figured it was the wrong way to do this. After you posted this, I went back and tried more to get this method to work. The one thing I was doing wrong was I had my reference cells for my combo list locked as well. This is what was giving me the error. After unlocking them, this worked perfect.

For anyone else who comes across this situation, this is what I had to do. I had to unlock the combo list so it could be altered, I had to lock the cells with the calculations, and I had to unlock my reference cells for my combo list. The reference cells can still be hidden just not locked. Also, if you don't want the user to be able to see the equations you used for your calculations, when you protect the worksheet, unselect the option "select locked cells". The numbers will still come up in the calculations, they just can't click on the cell to see the formula.

Thanks again for your help GB!


*edited to give my personal steps for this situation