PREVENTING ACCESS TO A HIDDEN COLUMN

[Pat]

I have a worksheet with a hidden column. I want people to be able to access
the worksheet and make changes/entries in it in every cell except the hidden
column. When they make their entries and save and email the worksheet back
to me I want to be able to access the hidden column. Is this possible and if
so how can I set this up?

 

[Dave Peterson]

You could hide the column and protect the worksheet
(tools|Protection|Protect sheet, in xl2003 menus)

But that won't stop anyone who really wants to see that column.

Heck, they could use Edit|Goto and select each cell in that hidden column and
see the contents in the formula bar.

Maybe you could remove the hidden column from the worksheet you send out and add
it back when you receive that filled-in version.

 

[Don Guillett]

For most users that would be OK to hide and protect the sheet. For a higher
level you could put the column on another sheet and hide the sheet with code
using xlveryhidden so the sheet can't be unhidden except by code but that
won't stop everybody either. Password protecting the code would add another
level of security. Hopefully, you have a bunch of "aggies".