Protection for 1 cell or column only

[tom-bishop]

not entire worksheet...

any help appreciated

[cycling-rod]

http://www.advanced-ict.info/?office...excel%2520cell
Quoted taken from above link: Protecting Cells
If you've created an elaborate system that takes user-entered variables and produced some sort of outcome in other cells, then the last thing you want is your user deleting the formulae. Because your formulae generally won't need to be changed, and what you can do is protect the cells that contain them. In fact, if you protect all of the cells into which the user does not need to enter any values, it has the additional benefit of assisting navigation, as the TAB key moves the cursor between unprotected cells. Combine this technique with careful use of borders and background colours, and you can create a user-friendly user interface as well as an effective system.
Protecting cells is quite simple, but there are two steps involved. Each cell has a property to say whether or not it is protected, and the default setting is Locked (i.e. protected). The first step, therefore, is to set the Locked property to false for all the cells that you need the user to be able to change. To do this, you must highlight all of these cells - you can highlight non-adjacent cells by holding down the Ctrl key as you click. Then, select Cells from the Format menu. On the Protection tab, there are two checkboxes, called Locked and Hidden - make sure that Locked is not ticked.
The final step is to switch on the protection - from the Tools menu, select Protection then Protect Sheet.... You will be prompted for a password - be careful not to enter one unless it is absolutely necessary; I have known a number of students who have forgotten their passwords and have had to start their systems again.
Note that when a sheet is protected, certain features no longer work - AutoSum, for example - even when you're not working with protected cells. Also, if you create a macro that writes to protected cells, you will need to unprotect the sheet at the start of your macro, and then re-protect it at the end.
Unquote.

[cycling-rod]

You could follow the protect cells instructions, but only unlock the cells or columns you don't want protected. Once the sheet is protected, those cells unlocked could be altered, but the remaining cell or column would be part of the protected sheet and hence a cell or column could be protected, as asked in your post.

[tom-bishop]

Thanks - Sorted now.