Sorting issue

[wizgf19]

I am trying to sort first by year then by term (i.e. summer, fall, spring) for a school year. I know how to do custom sort so i set up a list. The problem comes here:

Term Year

Spring 2002
Summer 2002
Summer 2002
Summer 2002
Summer 2003
Summer 2003
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Fall 2005
Summer 2005
Summer 2005

Because there is no spring 2005, the last entry it sees is summer so it puts fall 2005 when in reality i want summer 2005 next. How do i sort so that any time there is a new year in the year column, it starts the sort over with spring in the term column? Thanks!

[wizgf19]

I am trying to sort first by year then by term (i.e. summer, fall, spring) for a school year. I know how to do custom sort so i set up a list. The problem comes here:

Term Year

Spring 2002
Summer 2002
Summer 2002
Summer 2002
Summer 2003
Summer 2003
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Summer 2004
Fall 2005
Summer 2005
Summer 2005

Because there is no spring 2005, the last entry it sees is summer so it puts fall 2005 when in reality i want summer 2005 next. How do i sort so that any time there is a new year in the year column, it starts the sort over with spring in the term column? Thanks!

[arthurbr]

Hi,

you posted the same thread in the Charting Forum.
Maybe you should delete that one or at least refer to it in this post so that different members don't try to answer the two posts.
Cheers

[Andy Pope]

Personally I would use a helper column and a lookup table.

Lookup table named as Season would be a simple 2 column affair

Summer 1
Spring 2
Fall 3

Then, assuming your data is in A1:B16, the helper columns would be labelled Season and in C2,

=VLOOKUP(A2,SEASON,2,FALSE)

Copied down to C16.
Now sort Year and Season.

[Andy Pope]

wizgf19, please don't post the same question in multiple forums.


Thanks, arthurbr.

[wizgf19]

Summer 2001 summer
Fall 2002 fall
Fall 2002 fall
Spring 2002 spring
Summer 2002 summer
Summer 2002 summer


columns are (term, year, =VLOOKUP(A2,$A$56:$B$58,1,FALSE)

vlookup table is

summer 1
spring 2
fall 3

if you notice, spring 2002 is still after fall 2002 but it shouldn't be. STILL CONFUSED! haha

[Andy Pope]

It would be. Your lookup formula returns the words rather than the numeric values so is not different to sorting on your existing column A values.

[wizgf19]

sorry, i copied and pasted the wrong one. I did it with numbers and it still has issues. I don't have time to post it right now as I am working on something else but I will post what I have later. Thanks for your help I'm at least one step closer than I was