Alphabeltical ordering in table - results don't make sens

**studiosa** · 05-30-2013, 10:16 AM

Dear Excel gurus,

I have Excel 2007. I have a bunch of columns in a table (in the attached example I show just two). I want to order the rows in the table alphabetically by category. When I try to do so, I get strange results: values like 2.1 and 2.3 are put ahead of values like 1.2.7 and 1.2.8

I cannot figure out any logic that would explain why this should be the case. In the attached example I tried it two ways using a table (in column B): with category formatted as "general" and formatted as "text". I also tried it with the same data stored in a range rather than a table (see column G) and formatted as "text" I get the same result every time.

Can anyone please tell me what is the logic behind this ordering? And is there any way to tell Excel to order it so 1.2.7 is on top, then 1.2.8 , then 2.1 etc.?

Thank you very much.

Studiosaaphabetical ordering example.xlsx

**ChemistB** · 05-30-2013, 10:22 AM

The problem is that Excel is seeing those values as numbers and numbers are sorted before text. Easiest way to fix is to put a period after the value i.e. "2.1."
It used to be that Excel asked if you wanted numbers stored as text sorted as numbers or text but that didn't happen with your file even when I put an ' in front of it and formatted the cells as text. Hmmmm