Question

How do I restore the sort function which is greyed out in my excel file?

Asked by: wallylord

I cannot sort because "sort" is greyed out. I don't know how it happened.

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Asked On
2008-11-22 at 08:32:53ID23927779
Tags

microsoft 2003 office

Topics

Microsoft Applications

,

Microsoft Office Suite

,

Microsoft Excel Spreadsheet Software

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Answers

 

by: barryhoudiniPosted on 2008-11-22 at 08:51:41ID: 23021362

Is the sheet protected?

To unprotect

Tools > Protection > Unprotect Sheet

You might need a paaword if it was protected with one.....

Excel also allows you to protect the sheet but still allow sorting, it's one of the options when you protect

 

by: wallylordPosted on 2008-11-22 at 09:06:19ID: 23021426

Barryhoudini,
protect is also greyed out in this file now, so protection is probably not the problem. I was doing a lot of inserting columns and moving data around. Also highlighting various non-contiguous rows with the control key.
wallylord

 

by: wallylordPosted on 2008-11-22 at 09:32:39ID: 23021531

I found a way to restore the sort function. First I unshared the file, then saved and closed Excel. Now the sort function is not greyed out. Everything okay.

 

by: barryhoudiniPosted on 2008-11-22 at 09:45:21ID: 23021578

Not sure what the cause is then, but you might try re-setting the menus

Tools > Customize > Commands > Re-arrange Commands

Ensure that "Menu Bar" radio button is selected and choose "data" from the dropdown and press "Reset" button > OK > Close > Close

 

by: byundtPosted on 2008-11-22 at 09:56:50ID: 23021627

When a workbook is Shared, it also becomes Protected. There is no need for wallylord to Reset his menus--although doing so won't hurt anything.

Brad

 

by: barryhoudiniPosted on 2008-11-22 at 10:07:33ID: 23021666

"When a workbook is Shared, it also becomes Protected. There is no need for wallylord to Reset his menus--although doing so won't hurt anything."

Thanks Brad,

Somehow I didn't see wallylord's reply before I posted that suggestion........

 

by: byundtPosted on 2008-11-22 at 10:29:04ID: 23021750

barryhoudini,
I made the comment mostly for the benefit of people searching the Experts-Exchange database in the future--who probably don't know Excel as well as you do.

I also wanted to show the fairly close relationship between your initial thought (Protected worksheet) and the actual answer (Shared workbook).

If patrickab were on the scene, he would probably post a discourse on why the Shared workbook feature is an invitation to file corruption. Microsoft acknowledges some issues in that respect, and the consensus of a group of MVPs was "Shared workbooks--don't do it."

Brad

20120131-EE-VQP-002

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