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I have a very complicated tool that I developed that produces a mass amount of information. Technically, the whole sheet should be a database drive website. However, it is a spreadsheet:

Spreadsheet as database running a game

The entire tab is protected against modification with the exception of Cell B1-E1 (Merged). This cell uses data validation from the tab "Families!A:A". My problem appears to be that non-english speaking people are playing the game and using some other source for their selection and pasting it into the field. When they paste, it overwrites the formatting and data validation for that field and breaks the sheet.

At least twice a day I have to reset the format for that cell. Is there a way to protect the cell so that they may only select from the drop down?

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How did you get the combobox in the second sheet? – Jacob Jan Tuinstra Feb 4 at 18:08
It's the same as the first, I added data validation and selected a column from the Cards tab. Normally, it would force uses to ONLY type or select a character from the list, but if they copy and paste from like google translate or another spreadsheet, all formatting is gone, including the data validation. – Neobane Feb 4 at 20:17
via Google Apps Script? – Jacob Jan Tuinstra Feb 4 at 20:20
1  
No, click on a cell, click on "Data > Validation" menu. Change "Criteria" from numbers to Items from a list. Click in the box next to Create List from Range box and either type in the tab and range or select the cells directly and it should automatically enter the range in the box. The only problem is that if you share it, the users must know not to paste into that field. They either have to type in the text exactly as it's spelled in the range or select it from the drop down. – Neobane Feb 4 at 20:33

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