Replies

Thank you both VERY much indeed.

I don’t mind their applying and removing filters, widening, narrowing, colouring, formatting or hiding rows or columns, setting up print area(s), creating pivot tables (some chance!) – whatever they want, provided they don’t mess with the data (and then send it back without their having said so!!!!)

Thanks v much, everyone, for all this. I didn’t realise that I’d provoke such an interesting thread!
I was a bit iffy about anything involving ACTION on the part of the user in order to achieve the desired outcome (ie, user does nothing special, then he can wreck the data **grin**) but the workarounds in the last few responses seem to be the way forward. I’ll do that. On a copy of the workbook, to start with!
Thanks again.

Thanks, Rory, I’d figured that and in any event the default installation is ‘macros disabled’ and I suspect the punters concerned wouldn’t know how to turn them on. anyway.

OK and thanks, Hans.
Might need to persuade grateful bosses to uprate to eg xl2003 for some approach to what we want, then.

Thanks for that, Hans.
OK anyone, suggestions for the nearest approach to what I’d like to achieve, of which the most fundamental is to forbid changing the values or formulas in cells?

OK, bailed out of Word, restarted, problem solved (I think.)

Thanks v much, Hans.
Will do Legare’s trick.
So, thanks to Legare, too.

Thanks for this, Hans,
I’ve just had a cognate problem and your fix worked (so far….)

A quick and dirty way I use is to get Excel itself to write the letter.
Once you get over the non-WYSIWYG ‘feature’, it’s a functional word processor.
Construct your sentences using formulas like
=”Date of loan: “&TEXT(VLOOKUP($BR$3,[do_it_all.xls]data!$A$1:$V$500,21,FALSE),”d mmm yyyy”)
This one inserts the date from column 21 in the row in the range data!$A$1:$V$500 which corresponds (in my case) to a member number typed or pasted into my cell BR3 on the active sheet.
That line of the letter might then read
Date of loan: 23 Jan 2005
I leave you to decide what the printed version of this line of the letter might look like
=”Subject to legal limits, you could apply for a loan of up to about

Hans, your worked example works fine (of course!) but I can’t find the named macro and associated code which does it.
Is it hidden somewhere?
Sorry to be a pain!

Thank you very much indeed Hans, and Legare for comment.
Harder than I thought!
The background is that I’m having to do in Excel what should really be done in Access, i.e splitting a big and ugly list into ‘tables’ each containing the fields I want, filter-able and sort-able.

That’s correct, Hans. I could copy the column concerned onto sheet 2 and then hide it? If necessary, that is.

I think I’d do it on one sheet!
Create a spare column with the formula = month([cell with the date in it]) and hide it.
Do the sumifs on the mileage each month.
Sample attached sort of illustrates (a lump of one of mine concerning paylaods of empy bottles for recycling!)
Best of luck.

>>But how to understand me? I write with a terrible english!

He second-guesses you, Sal21. And most of the rest of us.
Look up the word ‘spooky’ in a dictionary?