Problem sorting by Year

**bbooze** · 09-04-2009, 05:04 PM

I'm sure this is simple, but the Help + Googling has gotten me nowhere...

I have random years listed to the left, and specific numbers of homicide data to the right in various rows. Problem is, when I sort the years so it isn't such a mess, all the data in the rows to the right does not sort with it, it just stays there and messes up my whole document.

How do I sort one column and make sure that all data in each row is locked and sorts along with it?

**zbor** · 09-04-2009, 05:09 PM

a) select cell in column where you want to sort (but don't sort yet). And then select all (Ctrl+A) and sort.

b) better solution and recomanded: In first row where you (perhapes) have title (like Year etc) insert Filter (Data->Filter) and sort within filter. You can also do many other things if you do this way.

c) some others but this should be enough

**masteff** · 09-04-2009, 06:08 PM

Make sure you have a heading for every column in your data. If the top row has an empty cell (regardless of data in rows below it), sort will not pick up that column or those to the right of it.

**shg** · 09-04-2009, 06:15 PM

Select all the columns, then sort by the column(s) you choose.

If the top row has an empty cell (regardless of data in rows below it), sort will not pick up that column or those to the right of it.

That's simply not true.

**masteff** · 09-04-2009, 06:41 PM

Originally Posted by shg

That's simply not true.

I've sorted enough data to be able to assure you that, especially if you use the sort buttons on the "standard" toolbar, having a blank cell in the header row can be very problematic. Therefore it should be the first thing to fix in order to prevent inconsistent results.