Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Easily Entering Dispersed Data.

Easily Entering Dispersed Data

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated October 31, 2020)

3

I needed to enter information into many rows of widely dispersed columns, like A, Q, BD, BJ, CF, etc. (I'm sure you get the idea.) I was right-arrowing along and I was thinking: if I were in Word, I'd just set some tabs or bookmarks to move around quickly. What is the equivalent in Excel? A little delving into the Help files let me know that it's done like this:

  1. Decide which columns (or rows, or cells) in which you want to enter data.
  2. Highlight the column (or rows or cells).
  3. Display the Home tab of the ribbon.
  4. Click Format (in the Cells group) and then choose Format Cells. Excel displays the Format Cells dialog box.
  5. Make sure the Protection tab is displayed. (See Figure 1.)

    6. Figure 1. The Protection tab of the Format Cells dialog box.

  6. Clear the Locked checkbox.
  7. Click on OK to close the dialog box.
  8. Repeat steps 3 through 7 for each column (or row or cell) in which you need to enter data.
  9. Again, display the Home tab of the ribbon.
  10. Click Format (in the Cells group) and then choose Protect Sheet. Excel displays the Protect Sheet dialog box. (See Figure 2.)

    11. Figure 2. The Protect Sheet dialog box.

  11. Uncheck the Select Locked Cells checkbox. You do not need to enter a password or make any other changes in the dialog box.
  12. Click on OK.

That's it! Excel will only let you go to cells that are still editable, and those are the ones for which you cleared the Lock property before you protected the sheet. Enjoy tabbing to the places on your worksheet that you need to.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (9364) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, and Excel in Office 365. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Easily Entering Dispersed Data.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

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What is 2 + 9?

2020-11-15 10:15:56

JMJ

Yes, I agree with JC: I certainly would have hidden the useless columns...

2020-11-02 10:44:10

JC

How about temporarily hiding columns that don't need data entry?

2020-10-31 19:06:10

Peter

A good and likely useful trick.
Depending on the nature of the model, you could just have a data entry tab and refer to the data entry cells by formula. This gives you the opportunity to modify the values as well, say, from imperial to metric or perhaps apply data validation.

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