I have a large (800 rows X 20 columns) data sheet that I am trying to sort by
numbers in column C. These numbers are from 7 to 9 digits in length. When I
try to sort the sheet, Excel uses the left-most digit in this column across
to right to sort. Nine digit no.'s beginning with 1 end up at the top and
further down 7 digit numbers beginning with a 6 are included. When I
recieved this data sheet this column was labled as General and I tried to
change it to number. Any suggestions?

I would say your data is Text.

Format all to General.

Copy an empty cell.

Select the range to change and paste special>add>ok>esc.

Now try the sort.


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Thu, 3 Jun 2010 06:22:11 -0700, EngrJohn
<(E-Mail Removed)> wrote:

>I have a large (800 rows X 20 columns) data sheet that I am trying to sort by
>numbers in column C. These numbers are from 7 to 9 digits in length. When I
>try to sort the sheet, Excel uses the left-most digit in this column across
>to right to sort. Nine digit no.'s beginning with 1 end up at the top and
>further down 7 digit numbers beginning with a 6 are included. When I
>recieved this data sheet this column was labled as General and I tried to
>change it to number. Any suggestions?