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

MORE INFORMATION

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1. In Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, point to Macro on the Tools menu, and then click Visual Basic Editor. On the Insert menu, click Module.
   
   In earlier versions of Excel, point to Macro on the Insert menu, and then 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 

1. Switch to the worksheet that you want to format.



2. In Microsoft Excel 97 and Microsoft Excel 98 Macintosh Edition, point to Macro on the Tools menu, and then click Macros.
   
   In earlier versions of Excel, click Macro on the Tools menu.



3. In the list of macros, click 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 click the article number below to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

Q163435 VBA: Programming Resources for Visual Basic for Applications

Additional query words: 5.00a 5.00c 7.00a XL98 XL97 XL7 XL5

Keywords : kbprg kbdta kbdtacode PgmOthr PgmHowto KbVBA
Version : MACINTOSH:5.0,5.0a,98; WINDOWS:5.0,5.0c,7.0,7.0a,97
Platform : MACINTOSH WINDOWS
Issue type : kbhowto