ACLrecon said:
How do I prevent a cell (or a group of cells) from having their
contents being accidentally deleted, but still allowing data entry?
The cell has a formula which I would permit to be overwritten, but I
just don't want its contents to be deleted outright.
I solved a similar problem by using cells outside of the document print area
for the manual entry. I created a simple table with appropriate annotation
that could be manually filled in if necessary, or left blank. The formula
was then modified to look initially at its associated manual cell and, if
there was a value in that cell, it would use it. Otherwise, if the manual
cell was blank, the formula would calculate the cell value. The formula
cell was locked to prevent overwriting / deletion of the formula.
Assume A1 is the formula cell and Z1 is its associated manual cell outside
of the document print area.
Cell Z1 would be unlocked and formatted as appropriate for the type of
manual data entry expected. Data Validation, if set, would have the 'Ignore
blank' tickbox ticked.
Cell A1 would be locked and contain the formula:
=IF(Z1<>"",Z1,[original formula function])
The above principle can be applied to as many formula cells as necessary.
Conditional Formatting could be used to highlight any manual cell that
contains a value, so the user is alerted to the manually entered value that
is overriding the formula.
HTH
