How to prevent Excel from recognizing table filtering and sorting as a "change"

lawyerlagniappe

New Member
Joined
Nov 11, 2021
Messages
1
Office Version
  1. 365
Platform
  1. MacOS
Hi all,

I would like to be able to filter or sort a table without Excel considering it as a change to the spreadsheet. In other words, I want to be able to open a workbook, filter or sort a column in a table, and then close the workbook without Excel prompting me to save changes. Is this possible?

I have searched for the answer here and elsewhere, but I haven't found anything (maybe I haven't used the proper search terms). Additionally, protecting the sheet while allowing filtering and sorting does not work--it still prompts me to save.

If it matters, here's my goal: when working all day on several large spreadsheets, I don't want filtering or sorting to count as a change when I close the workbooks. I worry that I will click "Save" on workbooks where I made unintentional changes (unrelated to filtering or sorting) or click "Don't Save" where I made intentional changes. I'm sure there are other ways around this, but solving the above issue if nothing else will be best for my mental health. If the save changes dialog box pops up when I did nothing but filter a table, even if I know I didn't make any changes other than filtering, the perfectionist in me will be unsettled. I'm only a little crazy, I promise.

Thanks in advance,
LL
 

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I want to be able to open a workbook, filter or sort a column in a table, and then close the workbook without Excel prompting me to save changes. Is this possible?
No, it is not possible. If anything, the concept of not considering a change as a change is illogical.

By sorting you are changing the order of the data, by filtering you are changing the data that is visible. In addition to the fact that both of these actions result in changes to the sheet, which will logically prompt excel to ask if you want to save the said changes, there are certain types of formulas that may be recalculated based on the filtering and sorting actions. When those formulas recalculate, the results of those formulas are likely to change, again resulting in a prompt to save.

There may be ways to work around it by using vba to close without saving but there would be increased risk of losing changes that should have been saved. Personally, I wouldn't even consider attempting it or advising anyone else on how to do it.
 
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