How do I protect a partial portion of an excel spreadsheet from manual editing ?

Destry963 

I assume you meant columns A to F, for F1 explicitly mentions "manually enter date of affidavit".

Step 1: Unlock the cells that should be editable.

• Select columns A to F, except for row 1.
• Press Ctrl+1 to activate the Format Cells dialog.
• Activate the Protection tab.
• Clear the Locked check box.
• Click OK.

Step 2: Protect the worksheet.

• Activate the Review tab of the ribbon.
• Click 'Protect Sheet'.
• If you want to specify a password that will be needed to unprotect the sheet, enter it in the box. Don't forget it!
• Click OK. If you specified a password, you'll have to re-enter it as confirmation.
• Save the workbook.

See the attached version (there is no password)