Thank You for the reply ! But No this is not the case. I have contiguous
cells above and below the curser which are not protected. If I allow the user
to select protected cells when I protect the sheet then everything behaves
properly except of course protected cells can be selected but not changed.
What I have now wit only allow unprotected cells to be selected is a
situation where the selection will not go in any direction except right or
left and if I want to change rows I must use the mouse as when the selection
reaches the end of protected cells no further movement is allowed.

"art" wrote:

When you protect the sheet, when you press enter or tab, it goes to the next
available cell thats unlocked. The same applies to the up and down arrow. It
just may seem not to go in the direction you want since you might have locked
a big amount of cells, so it seems as it goes up or down when you want to go
right or left, and vice versa.

"roandrob" wrote:

If I protect my work book and do not allow selection of locked cells the
arrow keys and enter key do not select cells ( unlocked ) in the up down
direction. I can use arrow keys to select cells right or left.