Sorting in a Protected Worksheet

When you protect a worksheet, Excel stops users from performing a wide variety of tasks on the data in the worksheet. One of the things that the user can no longer do is to sort data. What if you want the user to be able to sort data, but still have the sheet protected?

If you are using Excel 2007 the answer is quite easy: Excel allows you to specify what users can and cannot do with a protected worksheet. When you display the Review tab of the ruler and click Protect Sheet in the Changes group, Excel displays the Protect Sheet dialog box. At the bottom of the dialog box is a long list of check boxes. All you need to do is select what the user should be able to do with the worksheet. One of the options (you need to scroll down a bit) is Sort. If you select this option, then users can sort protected data.