Delete rows in a protected sheet with protected cells

**Maranwe** · 10-20-2011, 07:17 AM

Hi,

I want to allow users to delete rows from a protected worksheet.
The rows contains locked cells, and therefor this causes problems.

Is there a "work-around" to solve this problem?

**6StringJazzer** · 10-20-2011, 08:23 AM

The first issue may be a design problem. There is a contradiction in locking cells vs. allowing users to delete the rows. Why are they locked if you want to allow deletion?

Anyway, the workaround is to write a macro that unprotects the sheet, deletes the row, then re-protects the sheet. This is for protection without a password.

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If locked with a password then you have to explicitly put the password in the code. Then if you want to hide the code you have to password-protect it.

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**Maranwe** · 10-22-2011, 04:30 AM

Hi,

Regarding the design problem, is it not a "problem".
The users tend to delete formulars, eventhoug they are told not to, but since its a tool for them to work in, they should be allowed to delete rows.

If i put in the macro, how does I make it run automaticly when they are trying to delete the row - is there a call, or do I have to overwrite the commando ctrl + "-"?

Thanks

**6StringJazzer** · 10-22-2011, 10:28 AM

Needing to do something that Excel was designed to prevent sounds like a problem to me.

CTRL + - deletes the contents of cells if the entire row is selected, which isn't what you want. If you do not have a row selected, CTRL + - brings up a dialog which asks what you're trying to delete, which may still not be what you want. In any case, to assign a hotkey to a macro you have to use a letter, so you can't override CTRL + -.

The way I would do this is to provide a Delete Row button on the worksheet that executes the DeleteSelectedRow Sub. Or you could select a letter. Letters that Excel does not already use are E, J, M, Q, although you could reassign one already in use.

**Maranwe** · 10-22-2011, 10:43 AM

Sounds like a good solution with the button.

Thanks.

**Maranwe** · 10-31-2011, 03:51 AM

The code worked fine.

What if I want to cut or copy a row in one protected sheet and paste or insert the cuted cells in another protected sheet. Is that possible?

Thanks again.

**6StringJazzer** · 10-31-2011, 08:08 AM

It's possible, but you similarly have to unprotect and reprotect the destination sheet to do the paste. The code isn't hard--the "interesting" part is designing how this process should work from the user's point of view.