Filters & Drop Down Lists

[Darth_Williams]

Good afternoon all,

I have created a spreadsheet that uses drop down lists to control the data that is entered. A problem that I have encountered though is that I can not now apply filters to my headers.

Does anyone know of a work around for this or is it a by product of using drop down lists?

Thanks

 

[Fluff]

A few questions
Do you have dropdowns in the header?
Are the dropdowns data validation?
Is your data in a structured table?

 

[Darth_Williams]

Hi Fluff

There are no drop downs in the headers. The two drop downs columns I do have are both data validated and the raw data that the lists pull from are in structured tables but the main sheet where the drop downs are, and also where I need the filters to be, are not.

Thanks

 

[Fluff]

In that case I see no reason why you cannot use the Autofilter.
What happens when you try?

 

[Darth_Williams]

The filter option is greyed out so I can't even select the filters on the columns I want. It's got me properly scratching my head

 

[Fluff]

In that case check that the sheet is not protected & that you only have one sheet selected.

 

[Darth_Williams]

There are password protected cells in play, never even thought they would be the reason to stop a filter

 

[Fluff]

If you apply the autofilter before protecting the sheet & check the "Use autofilter" option when protecting the sheet, you should be ok.

 

[Darth_Williams]

Bugger, that didn't work. Just took off all of the passwords off to try and get the filters back on but I still have the same issue. I'm starting to think that it's something to do with the drop downs somehow.

 

[Fluff]

The dropdowns, shouldn't make a difference.
Are you saying that even with sheet protection, you cannot use the AutoFilter?