Sorting messinp up entries

So whenever I sort one of my columns about 10-20% of my rows gets messed up in the process. I just right click on the column I want to sort and sort it from A-Z, smallest to largest, then most of it goes properly and some doesn't. But I have almost 1000 rows, so even 15% is a lot. Not to mention I need to go through every single entry because I don't know which rows got messed up. I don't know what to do anymore.

Welcome to the forum ruivocanadense

You do not explain what you mean by messed up - but from what you have said I think it is because your data within the column is inconsistent
- a mixture of alpha and numeric characters?
- some of your numbers are being treated as text?

Excel is consistent but sorts in a particular way and you may need to either amend your data or add a helper column to sort things the way you want.

Attach your workbook (make any sensitive data anonymous) - tell us which column to sort by, and what you want the end result to be

To attach a workbook, click on Reply, then Go Advanced, then look below for Manage Attachments etc

Originally Posted by kev_

Welcome to the forum ruivocanadense

You do not explain what you mean by messed up - but from what you have said I think it is because your data within the column is inconsistent
- a mixture of alpha and numeric characters?
- some of your numbers are being treated as text?

Excel is consistent but sorts in a particular way and you may need to either amend your data or add a helper column to sort things the way you want.

Attach your workbook (make any sensitive data anonymous) - tell us which column to sort by, and what you want the end result to be

To attach a workbook, click on Reply, then Go Advanced, then look below for Manage Attachments etc

Sorry, messed up means some entries for different columns exchange with other random ones. I wouldn't care if it didn't consider some as numbers or as text. At least I would still have the matching rows with their respective columns. But when I sort one column, some rows don't take their respective columns with them to the new sorted arrangement.

You do not need to quote the whole of a post when replying - it just clutters everything up.
Use quotes to highlight a specific part of the post that you are replying to or if the thread is long and complicated and you are replying to something several posts earlier

If your columns are not all sorting together then my guess would be that you have an empty column causing your problem. Make sure that the whole of your table is selected (ie every column!) - if you let Excel select it will stop when it gets to an empty column and then it will mess up your data good and proper.





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I don't have empty column I may have some empty entries in some columns.

For example I have a comments column. But some rows I don't have any comments on them, so I leave it blank.

Attach your workbook (make any sensitive data anonymous) - tell us which column to sort by, and what you want the end result to be

To attach a workbook, click on Reply, then Go Advanced, then look below for Manage Attachments etc

I constantly change the sorting column I want depending on what I'm looking for. I want to be able to sort which ever column I want to visualize it better, without messing up my rows.