locking cells & absolute refs 1

1.Can I lock a cell or row (not columns) in Excel 97 so that a formulae is not accidently overwritten. If you lock the sheet you cannot change anything.
2. Is there a key that can be pressed while selecting a cell to use in a formulae that would make it absolute. It seems tedious to keep inputting $ signs?
Thanks in advance

 

[ivymike]

1) yes, but I forget how. look around in the "password protect" area, I'm sure you'll be able to figure it out.

2) use the F4 key to toggle between reference types ($A$1, $A1, A$1, A1)

 

[jproj]

mike bull:

When you start excel, all cells are locked, but not protected. To lock cells, you must enable "protect sheet" (under tools -> protection -> protect sheet). You can either enter a password or leave it blank.

To lock or unlock specific cells, click on the cell(s), row, or column you want to lock/unlock, then click on (Format -> Cells) to bring up the "Format cells" window. Next Click on the "Protection" tab. There will be two check boxes (locked and hidden). to lock or unlock cells, just check or uncheck the "locked" check box.

Remember, for cells to actually be locked, you must protect your sheet (as stated above).

For switching references, ivymike is correct with the F4 key, but you must highlight the cell(s) you want to make absolute in the formula bar.

Hope this helps!

jproj

 

[ivymike]

jproj, we must be using different versions of excel - in mine (excel 97) you don't have to highlight the text in the formula bar, as long as the cells you want to affect are currently selected.

 

[jproj]

yea, I have excel 2000. I really didn't know how to change the reference type before your post. I tried pressing F4 after I had already entered the formula and it didn't work, but it did if you highlight the cell in the formula bar. I tried it again (just now) with your method and it worked.

Thanks for the tip!

jproj