The auto expanding function of table will be lost after protecting the worksheet in Excel. For example, there is a table named Table1 in your protected worksheet, when you type anything under the last row, the table will not automatically expand to include the new row. Is there method to keep table expandable by inserting new row in a protected worksheet? The method in this article can help you to achieve it.
Keep table expandable by inserting table row in a protected worksheet with VBA code
As below screenshot shown, a table named Table1 in your worksheet, and the last column of the table is a formula column. Now you need to protect the worksheet to prevent the formula column from changing, but allow to expand the table by inserting new row and assign new data into the new cells. Please do as follows.
1. Click Developer > Insert > Button (Form Control) to insert a Form Control button into your worksheet.
2. In the popping up Assign Macro dialog box, click the New button.
3. In the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window, please copy and paste the below VBA code between the Sub and End Sub paragraphs in the Code window.
VBA code: Keep table expandable by inserting table row in a protected worksheet
Dim pswStr As String
'Update by ExtendOffice 20181106
pswStr = "123"
On Error Resume Next
Application.ScreenUpdating = False
ActiveSheet.Unprotect Password:=pswStr
ActiveSheet.Range("A1").Select
Range("Table1[[#Headers],[Total]]").Select
Selection.End(xlDown).Select
Selection.Offset(1, 0).Select
ActiveCell.FormulaR1C1 = "new"
ActiveSheet.Protect Password:=pswStr, DrawingObjects:=False, _
Contents:=True, Scenarios:=False, _
AllowFormattingCells:=True, AllowFormattingColumns:=True, _
AllowFormattingRows:=True, AllowInsertingColumns:=True, _
AllowInsertingRows:=True, AllowInsertingHyperlinks:=True, _
AllowDeletingColumns:=True, AllowDeletingRows:=True, _
AllowSorting:=True, AllowFiltering:=True, _
AllowUsingPivotTables:=True
Selection.ClearContents
Application.ScreenUpdating = TrueNotes:
4. Press the Alt + Q keys to close the Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications window.
5. Select the cells in the table you need to assign new data into except the formula column, then press the Ctrl + 1 keys to open the Format Cells dialog box. In the Format Cells dialog box, uncheck the Locked box, and then click the OK button. See screenshot:
6. Now protect your worksheet with password you have specified in the VBA code.
From now on, after clicking the Form Control button in your protected worksheet, the table will be expandable by inserting new row as below screenshot shown.
Note: you can modify the table except the formula column in the protected worksheet.
