How do i protect 1 individual cell in a Word table?

[simple si]

I need to protect 1 cell in a table from being edited. this is due to
bookmarks in tables spreading over the whole row rather than just the
selected cell.

i tried looking at section breaks and protecting between but couldn't figure
this out. the rest of the document needs to be editable. i am not looking to
create a form as a replacement. word Xp & 2003.

if you can help you are a legend.

cheers

 

[Luc]

Simple,
Activate the Protect Document task pane (Tools - protect document)
Check the box under the section Editing Restrictions. In the dropdown list
in that same section choose no changes (read only).
Now select all the cells that don't need protection, which the user will be
able to edit. Check the checkbox under the section Exceptions "for
everyone". You will see that all the cells will show greyish and appear to
have brackets around them.
Now in the last section click "Yes, Start Enforcing Protection". You will be
asked for a password, type it twice if you want one or if you don't leave it
blank. Now the cells that are not protected will get yellowish, the cell
that is protected will have a normal appearance.
Luc

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?c2ltcGxlIHNp?=,

I need to protect 1 cell in a table from being edited. this is due to
bookmarks in tables spreading over the whole row rather than just the
selected cell.

i tried looking at section breaks and protecting between but couldn't figure
this out. the rest of the document needs to be editable. i am not looking to
create a form as a replacement. word Xp & 2003.

If this were Word 2003, only, then you could select EVERYTHING else and allow
"everyone" to edit it.

With an earlier version of Word involved, there really isn't any good way to do
this. Especially since you haven't told us what role the information in the
cell plays in the document. Short of inserting form fields in all the other
cells (and maybe doing other things with the rest of the document - again, you
don't tell us enough), the best I can suggest would be to put the text into a
graphic and position the graphic BEHIND the table.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or reply
in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[simple si]

Hi Cindy,

The template is used for firm invoices. the cell i don't want editing in
contains the word fee.

the Table is set to do it's calculations by bookmarked cells (net and Vat
totals entered in specific cells). Where a cell has been bookmarked Word
picks up on numbers entered in the whole row rather than just that cell. if
someone puts e.g. an invoice number next to the word "fee" it adds that into
the bookmark and therefore the invoice total.

Luc's tips work but i can see it confusing/annoying our users who may want
to enter more details in the cell. I have looked at using SUM (Above) and
cell referencing but they are easily broken by extra rows being added and
when subtotals are used.

Any more ideas which i should look at?

thanks

si

 

[Cindy M -WordMVP-]

Hi =?Utf-8?B?c2ltcGxlIHNp?=,

the Table is set to do it's calculations by bookmarked cells (net and Vat
totals entered in specific cells). Where a cell has been bookmarked Word
picks up on numbers entered in the whole row rather than just that cell. if
someone puts e.g. an invoice number next to the word "fee" it adds that into
the bookmark and therefore the invoice total.

Well, about the bookmarks, yes and no. If you bookmark an entire cell, Word
can't work correctly (it has to do with internal structures). If you bookmark
just the text in the cell, Word will work correctly, but it will drive the
users crazy because they'll constantly be deleting the bookmark when they tab
into a cell and start typing.

Word obviously wasn't made for creating invoices and such, and if you haven't
already done so, I'd consider embedding an Excel worksheet in the invoice
document for this table. There are advantages and disadvantages to that, of
course, but something worth considering.

If your main concern is static values (the VAT percent, for example), you
could put these into custom document properties (File/Properties) or use VBA
to write them to document variables (the user can't see or modify those),
then reference those in your calculations, using DocProperty / DocVariable
fields. That would prevent the user from accidentally overwriting such
values.

Luc's tips work but i can see it confusing/annoying our users who may want
to enter more details in the cell. I have looked at using SUM (Above) and
cell referencing but they are easily broken by extra rows being added and
when subtotals are used.

Sum(Above) should work without "breaking" if new rows are added BEFORE that
row.

You could also consider splitting off the "Totals" row from the rest of the
rows, bookmarking the entire table where the user is entering values, then
reference cells, rows and columns that way. Say you need to total column 3 of
the table, and you've bookmarked it with the name Entries:

{ = Sum(Entries!C:C) }

this would also give you the possibility, if you wish, to insert Continuous
section breaks around this "calculation" row and activate forms protection
for just the row. Trickier will be getting the fields to update if there
aren't any form fields. But again, it's something to consider.

The other suggestion I can make would be a VBA macro that handles some of the
work, since you can program that to look at table cells "relatively", to a
certain extent.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 8 2004)
http://www.word.mvps.org

This reply is posted in the Newsgroup; please post any follow question or
reply in the newsgroup and not by e-mail

 

[simple si]

Hi Cindy,

thanks for all your suggestions.

VBA would be good to use but we have different groups of users with
different versions of the template who use them in different ways ....... The
documents are also fully editable so i guess we've caused our own problems.

at least i can say i tried.


si