Table protection (Word 97)

[David Trickett]

I have a single column, multiple row table in a document template. Rows
1, 3, 5, 7 etc contain preset text which the users must not amend,
other rows are for user entry. I need to lock the preset cells.

I can't use the text form field option since my users demand access to
formatting - e.g. bullets & numbering, indents etc.

I have tried using section breaks at the beginning of each cell and
unlocking as appropriate. This of course works, but I can't trust my
users to select the correct insertion points - so they will split the
table, insert new rows, delete rows and generally clag up the whole
thing! Believe me, they are most ingenious!

Does anyone have any ideas, either by formatting etc or VBA?

Many thanks

David Trickett

 

[Jay Freedman]

Hi, David,

Word really doesn't have the controls you need. I can think of only
two things that will work:

- Rigorous training followed by iron discipline. ("You aren't paid to
be ingenious! Just do what I tell you or you're fired!")

- Embed a section of an Excel spreadsheet in the Word document (or
just use Excel instead of Word). There you can lock individual rows or
cells, and allow formatting in others.