How to lock rows in Excel?

Question

I want to be able to sort entire rows, but prevent sorting on individual columns, so as to prevent data corruption.

Thank you,

MP

Answer 1

Is this what you want to do.

Allow sorting on whole row, but block sorting only selected column, like in this example:

You want the only option to be "expand", correct?

Sorry, I don't know of any way to do that.

But there is a way to discourage that mistake:

• format the data as a table
• in the Table Tools contextual > Designs tab > Table Style Options:

Turn on "Header Row" and "Filter button

• teach them to click on the "Filter button" (#1)
• pick the sort order they want to use (#2)

Also, take a look at Table Slicers. They do an implied sort, display only the selected values.

! (Insert and) Use slicers to filter data (36sec)

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/use-slicers-to-filter-data-249f966b-a9d5-4b0f-b31a-12651785d29d

Slicers provide buttons that you can click to filter table data, or PivotTable data. In addition to quick filtering, slicers also indicate the current filtering state, which makes it easy to understand what exactly is shown in a filtered PivotTable.

! I’ll Have a Slicer That!             2014 08 12https://www.myonlinetraininghub.com/ill-have-a-slicer-that

Slicers were introduced in Excel 2010 and they’re an interactive control that enables you to filter data in PivotTables, PivotCharts, Excel Tables and CUBE functions. Now I know you can already filter using the PivotTable or Excel Table filter tools but Slicers are better for 2 reasons:

   - They can control the filtering of multiple PivotTables/Charts (but only one Table)

   - They look nicer and are more intuitive to use 

ET MR PivotTables.docx

@ Slicers for Excel Tables(2013)           2015 02 10-https://www.myonlinetraininghub.com/slicers-excel-tables****Did you know you can use Slicers to filter Excel Tables? It’s like having your cake and eating it too! Not just any cake either, it’s like the most delicious Excel cake you’ve ever eaten and once you get a taste of the ‘Table Slicer Cake’ you’ll be wanting more. The good news is it’s zero calorie Slicers enable you to quickly and easily toggle filters on and off. I like to use them to save time applying filters I use regularly.

Answer 2

Hi Matt

Thank you for reaching out to us. I'm Maggie, an Independent Advisor from thr user community. I love helping other users in the Community by sharing my experience with Microsoft products.

When applying a sort you can sort one column of data or a group of columns.

Excel will warn you if you are trying to sort a column when others nearby have data.

You may then choose to expand the selection to apply the sort to all the data, or not.

Unfortunately there is currently no feature / customization to stop the user from choosing to sort just one or a few of the total set of columns with data.

https://support.office.com/en-us/article/sort-d...

I understand it's probably not the answer you were looking for, but I hope you'll at least clarify it. If you have any further questions, I'm here to help.

I wish you a great day/night :)!

Maggie