Moving or Cutting Unlocked Cells in Protected Document

ID: Q114646

3.00 4.00 WINDOWS kbprb

The information in this article applies to:

SYMPTOMS

Moving (using the drag-and-drop feature) or cutting and then pasting an unlocked cell in a protected worksheet will revert the cell that was moved or cut back to its default locked state.

CAUSE

In Microsoft Excel, cells on a worksheet are formatted, by default, as locked, but not protected. When you choose Protect Document from the Options menu, the document becomes protected (with or without a password), and you cannot edit or format the locked cells.

Changing the position of the cell by moving or dragging on the worksheet will revert the cell to its default locked state.

WORKAROUND

To work around this problem:

1. Copy the source cell, and paste it to the destination cell.

2. Select the source cell, and choose Clear from the Edit menu. In the 

   Clear dialog box, select All and then select the OK button.

Steps to Reproduce Behavior

1. Select a range of cells on a worksheet.

2. From the Format menu, choose Cell Protection. Clear the Locked 

   check box, and choose OK.
3. From the Options menu, choose Protect Document, and choose OK.

4. In an unlocked cell in the selected range, enter a value.

5. Drag or cut the cell and paste it to another unprotected cell in 

   the unlocked range.
When information is entered into the original source cell, the error message below will appear: 

      Locked cells cannot be changed
This behavior does not occur in Microsoft Excel 5.0 for Windows.

KBCategory: kbprb KBSubcategory:

Additional reference words: 4.00 3.00 format 

Version           : 3.00 4.00
Platform          : WINDOWS

Last Reviewed: September 14, 1996