Omitting columns in Excel 2010 sort?

highlight the columns you want to make disappear

right click on one of them

choose HIDE from the context menu,]

Voila…

Or, simply highlight the columns you want to sort, and don’t highlight the calculated columns. Then sort, and they should be left undisturbed.

The hide option is not available when the sheet is protected. When I highlight the column that I want to sort by, Excel gives me a nice message that says, “Excel found data next to your selection, but you do not have sufficient permissions to change those cells.”

I need to be able to sort the data while the sheet is protected. The people who will be using it only know how to enter data and sort it. That’s about it. I have some long formulas that I don’t need getting accidentally deleted.

Huh, I have no worked with protected sheets, I’m sorry :-/

Though I can’t imagine why you wouldn’t want to sort the calculated fields that are based on the data to be sorted, there is a way to accomplish what you want, but it may involve more “permissions” problems.

You can create a macro that will remove sheet protection temporarily, allow the user to sort (in ways that you have pre-defined), and then re-apply the protection. The problem is that some users may not even have rights to run the macro.

No worries. I haven’t worked with protected sheets much either.

I don’t need to sort the calculated fields because they use the same formulas. I’ll play with the macros and see what I can muster. I’ll also try VBA.