Sheets("Sheet1").Unprotect Password:="MeatFace"
PROCEDURE
Sheets("Sheet1).Protect Password:=" MeatFace "

This code unprotects the sheet, runs a procedure, and then protects the sheet again.  The reason this guy wrapped his procedure with Unprotect/Protect is because his procedure changes a worksheet in some way. And you cannot run a macro that changes a worksheet while that worksheet is protected.

Now, I'll bet a bunch of you still wrap your procedures with Unprotect/Protect. So I'm here to tell you that although this technique does work, it does have a couple of drawbacks.  First, if the code in the middle errors out, then your sheet won't become protected again. Second, every procedure (that changes the worksheet) would need to be wrapped in your UnProtect/Protect statements. This obviously leads to redundant code which could be difficult to manage.

A better way is to protect your worksheet with the optional UserIntefaceOnly argument.

Place this code in the Workbook Open event:

When you set the UserInterfaceOnly argument to True, you tell Excel that the worksheet protection does not apply to macros. This will allow your macros to run without having to constantly protect and unprotect your worksheet. 

Bonus Tip – Free of Charge

There are other arguments (similar to UserInterfaceOnly) that can help better define what happens when you protect your worksheet.

For example, if I wanted to protect my worksheet, but still allow my customers to Enable/Disable Autofilters, I would add the AllowFiltering argument:

Sub ProtectSheet()
Sheets("Sheet1").Protect _
Password:="MyPassword", _
AllowFiltering:=True
End Sub

Here is a list of the arguments you can leverage – painstakingly copied and pasted from Excel help.

The new Open XML file types come with lots of benefits. One of the major benefits is that you can change the content and properties of an Excel 2007 file simply by manipulating the XML documents that make it up.

Well, while playing with the Open XML files, I discovered that you can remove spreadsheet protection simply by applying a simple edit to the xml within the Excel file.

Say I have a workbook where Sheet1 is password protected. So I think to myself, "the nerve of some people – trying to keep me out of their spreadsheet".

I decide that I want to unprotect this sheet, but I don't know the password. Because this is Excel 2007, I'll hack into the xml and remove the spreadsheet protection.

Step 1: Make a backup of your file in case you really monkey it up.

Step 2: Change the file extension to zip.

Step 3: Extract the contents of the zip file.

Step 4: Go to the extracted files and navigate to the xml for the target sheet (found in the 'xl\worksheets' directory)

Step 5: Open the target sheet's xml document using an XML editor (I use a free editor called XML Marker)

Step 6: Find the 'sheetProtection' tag and remove the entire line.

Step 7: Save the edited xml document and replace the old xml document found in the original zip file.

Step 8: Change the extension back to xlsx.

Step 9: Enjoy your unprotected sheet.

That's right folks; simply removing the sheetProtection element from the xml part negates all protections placed on that sheet. Amazing, right?

A couple of notes:

1. Any password you see in the XML file is not the real password, nor will it work if you try to use it. It's worthless.
2. Unfortunately, it doesn't seem as though you can unprotect an entire workbook this way. Something prevents you from even opening the Open XML package for a protected Workbook.
3. Do I have to even mention that this doesn't apply to any xls files?
4. Of course, you could do this all programmatically, but this strikes me as a one-off kind of thing. So coding something up is just not worth it to me.

I'm pretty sure I got this trick from Bob Umlas.  Most Bob tricks, they are extremely cool, but I never seem to find situations where I can use them.  But, maybe this trick will hit the spot for some of you.

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Step 1:  Highlight the rows where you don't rows added or deleted. 

Type =""

Press Shift+Ctrl+Enter to apply the array.

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Step 2:  Highlight the columns where you don't rows added or deleted. 

Type =""

Press Shift+Ctrl+Enter to apply the array.

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Step 3: Hide the array formulas along with anything else you don't want your users to see.

When your users try to add or delete a column or row in the protected area, they'll get a face full of error message.

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I think this would be useful if you didn't want apply sheet protection but still wanted to prevent structural changes.  Although – I can't think of any reason why you would stay away from sheet protection.

What do you think?

Here's a new way to exert your impotent rage on the power user who's always doing wonky things to your spreadsheets.

You can limit navigation to a certain range of cells. Here's how:

Step 1: Press Alt+F11 to get to the Visual Basic Editor

Step 2: Choose the sheet you're working with.

Step 3: Activate the Properties for that sheet by clicking View -> Properties Window

Step 4: In the 'ScrollArea' property, enter the range in which you would like to limit scrolling.

Once you've implemented a limit, your users will not be able to navigate outside the set boundaries.

You can also apply this via VBA.

To really make them feel like a monkey, you can hide the off limit columns.

This way, they get a safe little 'play area' where mummy and daddy can watch them closely.