CTRL + A doesn't select all

**KJC** · 04-24-2013, 10:30 AM

I copied all the info from sheet 1 to another sheet, did a lot of work on it and found that when I did the A-Z sort, every column was sorting except Column A (Column B is blank, so I dunno about that) which remained unchanged and out of synch with the rest of the columns.

I also found that when I press CTRL + A it doesn't select column A and B. When I press CTRL A in Column B it selects everything. When I press CTRL + A in Column A, it selects only Column A. I figure this is why the A-Z Sort isn't working correctly. But when I do CTRL + A on the original Sheet I copied from, everything gets selected regardless.

It would save me a ton of work if I could do the A-Z sort and have all the columns match.

**KJC** · 04-24-2013, 10:42 AM

Also, if nobody can help with the sort...

A solution could be some VBA code that says the following:

(from Column A)
if cell = 1 then move to another sheet

**MarvinP** · 04-24-2013, 10:43 AM

Hey KJC

Sort works on the TABLE the cursor is in. A TABLE is defined to be all the stuff until it hits a blank row or blank column.

It sounds like you have a blank row or column that is defining the edge of the data you are dealing with.

Delete those blank columns or rows and try it again.

Look at http://contextures.com/xlExcelTable01.html the section on creating a table.

**KJC** · 04-24-2013, 11:05 AM

I did delete the B column (it was blank) and it did allow me to select all. The A column still doesn't sort with the rest of the data though.

I tried to follow the Table tutorial but I think it doesn't match with my version of Excel. I have row input and column input when I click table. I get invalid cell reference errors. I'm on Excel 2003 (I'm at work).

**Spiff99** · 09-17-2020, 11:53 AM

FYI, it's seven years later and Ctrl-A is STILL broken.

Open the attached worksheet and select ANY cell with data in it.

Click Ctrl-A.

Excel will only select some of the data.

The feature is called "Select ALL".

I realize the attached file is trivial, because it's easy to see that Ctrl-A isn't working.

But I have this problem when working on files with 100,000+ lines and 100+ columns. In those cases, there's no visual clue that Ctrl-A isn't working properly.

I also realize that blank cells are the problem. But Excel should be able to handle data with empty fields.

Clay

**AliGW** · 09-17-2020, 12:02 PM

Administrative Note:

Welcome to the forum.

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