How do I lock all the cells on a spreadsheet except the ones for salespeople to report activity numbers?

If you are having problems with what locks and what doesn't lock, then I suggest that there may already be some cells unlocked and some locked.

• Unprotect the sheet.
• Select all cells on the sheet (click the top left of sheet where the column Id's and Row numbers meet)
• On Home ribbon, select Format -> Lock Cell. (Might need to click command a couple of time because being a toggle button it might unlock on the first click and lock on the second click. Note that the border displays around the icon when locked.)
• Repeat the process as per my previous post to unlock the required cells and protect the sheet.

All the cells are locked by default, but this only has an effect when the sheet is protected.

Select the cells to remain unlocked. (You can select non adjoining cells by first selecting one cell or group of cells and then hold the Ctrl key while you select the remaining non adjoining cells or groups of cells)

On Home ribbon select Format -> Lock cell. This actually unlocks. (Note this is a toggle option. The border around the adjacent icon indicates locked and no border unlocked.)

On Home ribbon select Format - Protect and apply the password when requested.

Now only the cells that were unlocked can be edited.

Ensure that you do not forget the password because we cannot help you to remove the protection if the password is forgotten.

The sheet is already protected so you need to unprotect it, unlock the required cells, and then protect the sheet again.

Thanks OssieMac. While I got further, the locking process is inconsistent in what locks and not. I don't have time to futz with it anymore so I'll just have to deal with corruption as it occurs. Nothing intuitive or consistent about the process. Used to be easy.

Thanks much! That is pretty much what I thought but the final step is failing. When I highlight the cells I want to enable data-entry, the ribbon option is not available. Only unprotect the sheet is a choice. What am I doing wrong?