Data refresh connection is lost after protecting a worksheet

[DSNTNOENUF]

Good day,

I have an issue where I need to import data into a single column of an excel sheet. Column "B". I have formulas set up to extract to the right of the column. We have had instances of clerical staff typing into and ruining those formulas in the past. I protected only the columns with formulas but left column B alone for the import. Now the clerical staff cannot import into B without throwing the worksheet protected error. Have I set up my protect incorrectly or is there a way to get the best of both worlds? Allow the data connection without allowing certain cell access on the same worksheet?

Thank-you in advance!

 

[Fazza]

the details are unclear to me - so this is a guess

can you have the query on a different (maybe hidden) worksheet and some VBA to update the column B data to match refreshed query results?
that is the current column B will no longer be a query, but will be simple data