XL2000: Unlocked Cells Not Underlined with Protection Enabled

• Microsoft Excel 2000

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, this article shows how you can create a macro that allows you to simulate this behavior.

MORE INFORMATION

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1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Visual Basic Editor.



2. On the Insert menu, click Module.



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




Sub Format_Unlocked_Cells()
          'Declare procedure-level variables
          Dim x As Range, lastcell As Range, passwrd as String
          ' To use a worksheet password, insert the desired password 
          ' between the quotes below eg:
          ' passwrd = "secret"
          passwrd = ""

         'Prevent screen redraw to speed up the macro
          Application.ScreenUpdating = False

          'Unprotect the worksheet to allow editing
          ActiveSheet.Unprotect passwrd

          '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 passwrd
End Sub 

4. On the File menu, click Close and Return to Microsoft Excel.

1. On the Tools menu, point to Macro, and then click Macros.



2. In the list of macros, select the Format_Unlocked_Cells macro. Click Run.

REFERENCES

For more information about using the sample code in this article, click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q212536 OFF2000: How to Run Sample Code from Knowledge Base Articles

Q226118 OFF2000: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: xl2000

Keywords : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode OffVBA PgmOthr PgmHowto KbVBA
Version : WINDOWS:2000
Platform : WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto