I am using a worksheet to track a project list. Each row (beginning with the 5th row) represents a project. The first 4 rows are headers. Each column represents a piece of information about the project. The columns are grouped into sections so some of the cells in the header rows are merged.

I am having trouble with some data in one particular group of columns where the data in those 5 columns will move to a different row. Other columns in the rows are not affected, and it appears that the data in all 5 columns does stick together.

The spreadsheet is saved in SharePoint and is used by many people to update their projects. The 5 columns in question are particularly important for reporting purposes, so these columns are locked (the rest of the worksheet is not) and the worksheet is protected, but is set to still allow people to sort and filter. (Although, when I checked it, it does allow me to filter, but does not allow me to sort.)

I had thought that perhaps those columns weren't sorting when the rest of the spreadsheet is sorting, but 1) when it's protected, it doesn't seem to allow sorting, and 2) when it's unprotected, those columns do sort with the rest of the spreadsheet.

I had thought that perhaps those columns weren't filtering properly either when protected or not, but I have checked both and it seems to work fine.

I thought that perhaps a partial row had been added, but this is not a case of everything below a certain point being shifted down.

I thought it could be an issue of SharePoint allowing multiple people in and updating the spreadsheet at once, since there are about 20 people who would be updating the status fields on the spreadsheet at some point or another, but these are fields that only 3 people on my team would be using (which is why I have those fields locked and the worksheet protected). For some reason, I don't get asked to checkout and checkin this spreadsheet, but I am far from a sharepoint expert.

I am sorry for the lengthy explanation, but I am at a loss of what could be causing this. Any suggestions would be greatly appreciated!