Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. If you are using a later version (Excel 2007 or later), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for later versions of Excel, click here: Limiting Scroll Area.

Limiting Scroll Area

by Allen Wyatt
(last updated March 18, 2017)

2

When putting together a worksheet for others to use, you may want to limit the cells that the user can access. One esoteric way to add limits is to use the following steps:

  1. Right-click the sheet tab for the sheet on which you want to place a limit.
  2. In the resulting Context menu, choose View Code. The VBA editor appears, displaying the code window for the worksheet whose tab you right-clicked.
  3. If the Properties window is not visible, press F4.
  4. In the Properties Window, place the insertion point in the box to the right of the Scroll Area property. (See Figure 1.)

    5. Figure 1. The Properties window in the VBA Editor.

  5. Enter the range in which you want navigation possible. For instance, if you want the user to only be able to access the cells in the range A3:D15, then enter that range.
  6. Close the VBA Editor.

That's it; you can no longer move to or select cells outside the range you specified in step 5. The range you enter must be a contiguous range; you cannot enter a non-contiguous group of cell addresses.

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (2669) applies to Microsoft Excel 97, 2000, 2002, and 2003. You can find a version of this tip for the ribbon interface of Excel (Excel 2007 and later) here: Limiting Scroll Area.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He  is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Using the Discussion Pane

Tips for using the Discussion pane during a Discussion session.

Discover More

Hiding Grammar Errors

Are you bothered by the green underlines that Word uses to mark potential grammar errors in your document? You can hide those ...

Discover More

Adding Comments to Your Document

If you would like to add non-printing notes to your document, the Comments feature is one way of doing that. Here's how to ...

Discover More

Professional Development Guidance! Four world-class developers offer start-to-finish guidance for building powerful, robust, and secure applications with Excel. The authors show how to consistently make the right design decisions and make the most of Excel's powerful features. Check out Professional Excel Development today!

More ExcelTips (menu)

Tab Key Jumps a Screen at a Time

Have you ever pressed the Tab key, expecting to move to the next cell in your worksheet, only to have Excel completely change ...

Discover More

Finding the End of the Worksheet

Want a quick way to get to the last cell in your worksheet? This tip provides a handy shortcut and a potential "gotcha."

Discover More

Scrolling Up and Down

Need an easy way to move through a spreadsheet using a mouse? Here are a couple of ideas.

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is six less than 6?

2017-03-21 06:37:17

Willy Vanhaelen

Simply by erasing the range so that ScrollArea is blank.

2017-03-20 10:15:03

John \"Bear Claw\" Wagner

So now, how do you reverse this?
"Bear Claw"

This Site

Got a version of Excel that uses the menu interface (Excel 97, Excel 2000, Excel 2002, or Excel 2003)? This site is for you! If you use a later version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the ribbon interface.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR AUTHORS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2017 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.