Searchable Drop Down List Not Working on Protected Worksheet|General Excel Questions & Answers|Excel Forum|My Online Training Hub

Good day,

Please i was working on a worksheet with a list of over 200 items but i want the list to be searchable on a drop down list. I have done this with the use of excel formula and it worked perfectly but my main challenge is that when i protect the page, the list could no longer be searchable. it operated like a normal data validation table.The search became impossible.

Please how do i handle it? i want to be able to search the items while the sheet is still protected  because i have some calculations on the sheet which i don't want the users to see.

Please note, The cells where the the list of items is placed on the worksheet have been unlocked and not protected.