How to Prevent and Undo Cell Edits in Excel with VBA

Learn how to effectively prevent and undo cell edits in Excel using VBA code. This guide offers a clear solution to ensure your spreadsheet remains intact and your data protected.
---
This video is based on the question https://stackoverflow.com/q/64288816/ asked by the user 'jpollock0010' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/7005520/ ) and on the answer https://stackoverflow.com/a/64289267/ provided by the user 'Variatus' ( https://stackoverflow.com/u/7675437/ ) at 'Stack Overflow' website. Thanks to these great users and Stackexchange community for their contributions.

Visit these links for original content and any more details, such as alternate solutions, latest updates/developments on topic, comments, revision history etc. For example, the original title of the Question was: Prevent and/or undo cell edit

Also, Content (except music) licensed under CC BY-SA https://meta.stackexchange.com/help/licensing
The original Question post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ) license, and the original Answer post is licensed under the 'CC BY-SA 4.0' ( https://creativecommons.org/licenses/by-sa/4.0/ ) license.

If anything seems off to you, please feel free to write me at vlogize [AT] gmail [DOT] com.
---
How to Prevent and Undo Cell Edits in Excel with VBA

Are you working on an Excel spreadsheet and facing challenges in preventing user edits to specific cells? You’re not alone! Many Excel users struggle to lock down cell values while allowing some flexibility for data entry. In this guide, we will delve into how to effectively prevent and undo cell edits using VBA code, ensuring that your spreadsheet maintains its integrity. Let’s break down the solution!

The Problem

Imagine this scenario: You’ve built a comprehensive Excel spreadsheet, but there are specific cells that should not be altered once they’re filled with data. You want to prevent users from making edits via mouse clicks or keyboard inputs, and if they attempt to change the content, you want the original value kept intact.

Key Features Required:

Disallow editing of cells that already have values.

Allow the original value to remain when editing an existing cell.

Maintain the functionality to delete rows or columns as needed.

The Solution

In order to effectively implement this functionality, we can utilize a combination of the Locked property and the Worksheet_Change event in VBA. Here’s how the modified code works:

Step 1: Define the Range for Protection

The first step is establishing which cells you want to control. By defining a specific range (for example, A2:Z102), we can apply our logic to only those cells.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 2: Lock Filled Cells Upon Activation

We will write code that runs when the worksheet is activated. This code will check each cell in the defined range and lock any that already contain values.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Step 3: Handle Changes in Cell Values

Next, we need to manage what happens when someone tries to change a cell’s value. If the cell is locked, we will display a message to the user and revert their edits.

[[See Video to Reveal this Text or Code Snippet]]

Important Considerations

Two Peculiarities in the Code

Cell Locking: The user can paste data or delete multiple cells at once. After such actions, you might have to activate the worksheet to lock the correct cells again.

Invisible Characters: Be wary that non-visible characters (like spaces) can lock a cell, which may inadvertently prevent necessary edits.

Conclusion

By implementing the above VBA code, you can successfully prevent and undo edits to specific cells in your Excel spreadsheet. This ensures that your original data remains protected while still providing necessary flexibility for your users.

If you have any questions or need further modifications tailored to your needs, feel free to leave a comment!

Видео How to Prevent and Undo Cell Edits in Excel with VBA канала vlogize