"Protected cells can not be changed"

[ilyaskhan]

Hi,
In a .xlsx. or .odt fin using CALC, when I try to transpose a selection, a message appears stating “Protected cells can not be changed”
Despite un-checking Format>Cells>Cell Protection>Protection>Protected.
Is any one else also facing the same issue? Or know a work around?
Thanks.
Ilyas

Version: 25.8.2.2 (X86_64)
Build ID: d401f2107ccab8f924a8e2df40f573aab7605b6f
CPU threads: 8; OS: Windows 11 X86_64 (build 26200); UI render: Skia/Raster; VCL: win
Locale: en-US (en_US); UI: en-US
Calc: threaded

[LeroyG]

@ilyaskhan

facing the same issue

No. But if you can share the file, we can test on it. Thanks.

[PKG]

You are probably trying to split an array range, and that will not work.

[ilyaskhan]

@LeroyG Well, this is embarrassing. Transpose worked today!

db_design template.xlsx (22.4 KB)
There you go, the file that you asked for.
Sheet named 3-TableStructures, rows B19:B46.

Yesterday, I copied the rows in column B, then in a new sheet pasted special > transpose all, it didn’t work and the message “Protected cells can not be changed” kept returning.

Now that it is working, for future and if I face the same message, what other settings should I check for that I may be not aware off that should be in place for transpose to work without a hitch.

Thanks.

[ilyaskhan]

@PKG I am not using arrays. Its a selection of rows from a column that I had wanted to paste transposed in a new sheet when I saw the same Information message as you posted.

[PKG]

Possibly a bug in version 25.8. ?

As a workaround, you can use the TRANSPOSE function.

[ilyaskhan]

@PKG Unfortunately, the same issue has re-appeared. I am working in the same spreadsheet that I shared earlier.
This time I copied a portion of rows from the same column as before, then in another sheet, pasted as transpose. The ‘protected’ message reappeared.
I don’t understand the expected behavior at the moment.

You mentioned that this might be related to a bug in the version I am using. Thanks for your confirmation! I’ll remove the current version and download and install version 25.2.5.2.

Meanwhile, the TRANSPOSE function works! So, I’ll continue using the current LO version until I face a major show stopper.

Thank you very much.

[fpy]

@ilyaskhan

major show stopper

in a way or another, it has to be clarified that working with xlsx files is not reliable
→ 108897 – (XLSX) [META] XLSX (OOXML) bug tracker

[ilyaskhan]

@fpy Ah, thank you for the forewarning.
At the moment, I am documenting requirements for a database design. So primarily, I’ll be using text. Do you still think using .xlsx will be a bad idea?

[fpy]

@ilyaskhan

idea

use native ods → OpenDocument - Wikipedia
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