XL2000: Unlocked Cells on Protected Worksheet Become Locked After Clear All Command Is Used

In Microsoft Excel 2000, if you point to Clear and then click All on the Edit menu to remove data and properties from an unlocked cell on a protected worksheet, the cell becomes locked and you are no longer able to enter data.

This behavior occurs because by pointing to Clear and clicking All, you return the cell to its Normal style, which by default means that the Locked property is set to True.

If you want cells to remain unlocked after using the Clear All command, you need to remove the Locked property from the Normal style. You then need to set the Locked property to True for all cells that you want to lock when you apply worksheet protection.

To set the Locked property to False in a worksheet's Normal style, follow these steps:

1. Start Excel and open a new worksheet.
2. On the Format menu, click Style.
3. In the Format Cells dialog box, click the Protection tab, click to clear the Locked check box, and then click OK.
4. Click OK in the Format Cells dialog box. All the cells on the worksheet are now unlocked.

You can then lock specific cells by following these steps:

1. Select the entire worksheet by clicking the intersection of the Row and Column headers.
2. On the Format menu, click Cells.
3. Click the Protection tab, and then click to select the Locked check box.

You can now select individual cells and set their Locked property to False so that their data can be edited but data in the other locked cells cannot be edited. If you use Clear All while editing the unlocked cells, they remain unlocked because the Normal style dictates that the Locked property is set to False.