Excel workbook cell locking seems to vary between PCs - excel

I have an Excel 2007 workbook with multiple detail worksheets (let's call them Detail1, Detail 2, Detail 3 etc.) and a Summary worksheet which uses formulae to total some of the cell values from the detail sheets. Most of the cells on the detail sheets are locked so it's possible to enter values into only a few cells on each sheet; let's say those unlocked cells are A1:A10 and D20:K20. The workbook does not contain any VBA code.
On my three PCs everything works as described above and it does on several other people's PCs but we have a couple of users where there's a problem. They can enter data into cells D20:K20 on all the detail sheets but for them A1:A10 cells are all non-enterable. If they eMail the file to a user with a non-problem PC it's fine again but if the file is then returned to the problem PC the issue reappears.
The only obvious "difference" about the problem PCs is that they're in France with French Windows / Office set-ups whereas my mine and most of the other users are English. We've sent it to a couple of users in Spain with Spanish set-ups and it was OK there.
I'm stumped, so over to you guys !

Is the sheet protected using a password? There used to be (still are?) some differences in the French version relating to strength of password protection which may or may not be relevant...
From: http://lastbit.com/msohelp/wordexcel.htm
"In new Office versions beginning with XP all three variants are supported and the default variant is "Office 97/2000 compatible protection". Most documents are protected using this protection mode. The French version of Office always uses Weak protection (as the French laws limit the strength of encryption software)."
I think this relates to the workbook open password though, and it doesn't explain the observation that only some cells are affected.

Related

Can I protect a single Worksheet in excel to make it unviewable for other?

I have a shift planner and it can be seen/used by anyone in order to mark down their shifts. I now have created a new Worksheet that calculates how many vacation days each employee has left in order to have a better overview. Since it is law that it should not be viewed by other employees,
I thought of giving that sheet a Password. When I set the Password however, anyone can still see the contents of the sheet.
How can I set it up, so that the sheet cannot be viewed as long as the Password is not correct?
You can make that sheet "very hidden".
Steps to do:
save document as xlsm (with macros)
open the vba-editor (ALT + F11)
set the sheet to very hidden - "very hidden" means that it is not possible to unhide the sheet via the Excel-GUI (like a hidden sheet) - but only via the VBE-GUI.
To prevent users from unhiding via the VBA-Editor:
Select Extras - VBA Project properties (Eigenschaften von VBA-Projekt)
Go to the protection tab and choose to lock project plus add password.
(This protection only works if the file is stored as xlsm.)
Please be aware that there are lots of sources that explain how to crack the VBE-password. If someone wants to see the sheet he or she will be able to. An Excel-file will never be 100 % safe.

Sporadic shifted formula references

I have an Excel file with multiple sheets that are for the most part protected. The user can only edit certain cells and all adding/copying/duplicating/deleting of rows is handled via buttons and VBA.
The code for inserting a row:
ActiveCell.EntireRow.Copy
ActiveCell.EntireRow.OffSet(1).Insert xlShiftDown
and deleting a row:
Selection.EntireRow.Select
Selection.Delete xlShiftUp
There's a large number of Sum(...) and other formulas in the Excel file. In general, those update correctly. Sum(B5:B10) correctly references Sum(B5:B15) when you add 5 rows to it.
Every now and then there seems to be a bug that corrupts a lot of the formulas and shifts them incorrectly (e.g. Sum(B4:B14)).
This happens occasionally and on specific PCs. I can't reproduce them on any of my machines.
On most of the User-PCs it works. On some machines it seems to appear more regularly, but still not reproducable on demand.
Most users report that it happens after they click the insert-row & delete-row buttons often in a short time.
Information from one user who encountered this problem:
Operating-System: Windows 10, 64-bit;
Excel-Version: Excel 2016, 32-bit
Excel had been opened from mail and was then saved on Disk.
Programs open at the same time problem occurred:
One other Excel file (without macros), Outlook, IE, Adobe, Skype
As far as I know there are no "automatic tools" like AutoHotKey or something along the lines installed.

Seeking possible solutions/workarounds for creating a master Excel template

I'm trying to find solutions for creating a master template in Excel. We have almost 100 Excel workbooks where data in them varies but the formatting and cell and row layout including header names remains the same. When a row is deleted in one, it needs to be deleted in all of them. When a row header is updated, it needs to be updated in all of them. When conditional formatting changes in one, it needs to be updated in all of them. Get the gist?
Solutions I've researched that won't work:
Cell linking - only copies the data and not the format; doesn't account for adding/deleting rows/columns
Format Paint - doesn't work well between different workbooks and still needs to be applied to each workbook individually; doesn't copy conditional formatting; doesn't account for adding/deleting rows/columns
Power Query - formatting is based on the destination file and there's concern that when refreshed it would delete/overwrite all of the data specific to that workbook; doesn't copy conditional formatting
Find/replace - not ideal and doesn't work with exact match (when trying to replace AP it makes no distinction between AP or apply)
MS Access - for business reasons this needs to stay in Excel (i.e. can't use Access or other database programs); this option doesn't address the conditional formatting applied to all of the workbooks
I've seen numerous threads from people looking at how to create a master template in Excel. I get that its not possible (and I have no idea why Microsoft in all its wisdom hasn't created function yet), but what I'm looking for are possible workarounds. Right now the process can take a couple people several days to update all of the workbooks. Any work arounds that can reduce this to a single person in just a few hours would be fantastic.
Posting here in case someone has a VBA suggestion that would encompass everything I need. I'm using Excel 2010 and the workbooks are stored in a document library on SharePoint.

Excel is unfilling calculated cells at random

I have an Excel file on SharePoint.
Multiple people edit said file.
Offline and online.
Excel unfills all calculated cells (VLOOKUP and MATCH) that depend on other sheets in the same workbook at random.
So if you would open or reload that file, suddenly all the cells that use VLOOKUP or MATCH would be blank.
Upon further investigation nobody changed anything or deleted anything.
It just happens randomly.
Now it has happened 2 weeks ago and just today.
I have an interim solution that is to go to a cell with a formula, hit return, then click „overwrite all cells in this column with this formula“ and then click undo to prevent custom cell content to be overwritten.
Everything is back to normal afterwards.
I talked to a colleague, he has the exact same issue also totally at random.
He also encountered this on files that are not being edited by multiple people but himself.
So it is not dependent on the file itself.
Could the language play into this problem?
On some PCs Excel is in English and on some in German.
=IFERROR(IF(ISNA(VLOOKUP(D185,Sheet1!$B$3:$D$616,3,FALSE)),(VLOOKUP(D185,'Sheet2'!$B$3:$D$22200,3,FALSE)),(VLOOKUP(D185,Sheet1!$B$3:$D$616,3,FALSE))),"")
Seems like your sheet isn't calculating upon open. See if this link is of use to you.
https://superuser.com/questions/448376/what-is-the-excel-hotkey-to-re-calculate-all-formula-in-sheet
Also check your program settings and see if auto-calculate sheets is enabled. Don't know from the top of my head where it is located.
Alternative create a small vba function to force recalculate on workbook open.
Getting Excel to refresh data on sheet from within VBA

Problem converting cell link from Excel sheets

I have a workbook created with Excel .xlsx (Windows PC) that contains two sheets, S1 and S2.
In S1 there are single cells that are linked to single cells in S2 by using the cell name definition. These cell name definitions are created in S2 and reachable from the whole workbook (max scope).
So, in Excel, I click on a cell in S! to see the corresponding cell in S2. And viceversa. That's working fine.
Now, I put the file .xlsx into the Google Drive so I can reach it from the mobile or from another PC.
With the mobile, I use the Google's app Sheets. From PC I open the workbook using a specific extension of Google Chrome, installed in the browser. Both, mobile and PC, opens the worksheet and I can see the two sheets in it; when I tap (with mobile) or click (using PC) in the cell with link, nothing happens; the link to the another cell doesn't work.
Seems a problem due to the conversion from Excel to Google Sheet. Do you have any suggestions?
While both apps are spreadsheet applications and several features works the same way on both, other several features are exclusive of one or the other application. i.e. Google Sheets has IMPORTRANGE built-in function but Excel doesn't.
AFAIK Open Document scope is only about how data is saved in order to make it able of being opened by supporting applications but there isn't a standard for the way that applications works.

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