XL: Unlocked Cells Not Underlined With Protection Enabled

• Microsoft Excel for Windows, versions 5.0, 5.0c
• Microsoft Excel for the Macintosh, versions 5.0, 5.0a
• Microsoft Excel for Windows 95, versions 7.0, 7.0a
• Microsoft Excel 97 for Windows
• Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition

SUMMARY

In Microsoft Excel versions earlier than 5.0, while worksheet protection is enabled and gridlines are turned off, unlocked cells appear underlined. This underline identifies the cells that you can edit.

Although this feature is not available in Microsoft Excel versions 5.0 and later, you can create a macro that will allow you to simulate this behavior.

MORE INFORMATION

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1. On the Insert menu, point to Macro, and then click Module.

   In Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Excel 98, click the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor. On the Insert menu, click Module.

2. In the module, type the following macro code:

         Sub Format_Unlocked_Cells()
             'Declare procedure-level variables
             Dim x As Range, lastcell As Range
             'Prevent screen redraw to speed up the macro
             Application.ScreenUpdating = False
             'Unprotect the worksheet to allow editing
             ActiveSheet.Unprotect ("my_password")
             'Set lastcell to point to the last cell on the sheet
             Set lastcell = Selection.SpecialCells(xlLastCell)
   
             'Place bottom borders on unlocked cells and remove any bottom
             'borders from locked cells
             For Each x In Range("A1", lastcell)
                 With x.Borders(xlBottom)
                     If x.Locked = False Then
                         .Weight = xlHairline
                         .ColorIndex = xlAutomatic
                     Else
                         .LineStyle = xlNone
                     End If
                 End With
             Next x
   
             'Re-apply worksheet protection.
             ActiveSheet.Protect ("my_password")
   
         End Sub
   
   

To use the macro, follow these steps:

1. Activate the worksheet that you want to format.

2. On the Tools menu, click Macro. (In Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Excel 98, click the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.)

3. From the list of macros, select the Format_Unlocked_Cells macro. Click Run.

REFERENCES

"Visual Basic User's Guide," version 5.0, Chapter 5

For additional information about getting help with Visual Basic for Applications, please see the following article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

   ARTICLE-ID: Q163435
   TITLE     : VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for
               Applications