Borders don't move when sorting data (XP version)

  • Thread starter Thread starter Monika
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Monika

I am trying to solve a problem in Excel from Microsoft Office XP. In the
past I have not had this problem but I am finding that in this version
of Excel if I put a border around a cell and then sort the border stays
where it was and does not move with the cell. Do you know of a way to
fix this?

Thanks!
 
Monika said:
I am trying to solve a problem in Excel from Microsoft Office XP. In the
past I have not had this problem but I am finding that in this version
of Excel if I put a border around a cell and then sort the border stays
where it was and does not move with the cell. Do you know of a way to
fix this?

Thanks!
Click to expand...

This is normal behaviour for Excel. I don't understand your second sentence,
as I don't think it varies between versions. Maybe you are not remembering
correctly. I mostly use Excel97 and this is certainly the behaviour I see.

Sorting doesn't move the cells; it moves the data. Hence any formatting
stays where it was, as this is a function of the cell, not the data.

One thought: What you have seen in the past may have been the result of
conditional formatting. This, of course, is how you make the cell format
dependent on the data. Suppose, for example, that you conditionally format
so that the highest data value has a border. When you sort, the highest
value moves, so the border is visible on a different cell - appearing to
have moved with the data.
 
This is normal behavior in all versions of Excel as you are sorting the contents
of the cells not the cells themselves


: I am trying to solve a problem in Excel from Microsoft Office XP. In the
: past I have not had this problem but I am finding that in this version
: of Excel if I put a border around a cell and then sort the border stays
: where it was and does not move with the cell. Do you know of a way to
: fix this?
:
: Thanks!
:
:
: ---
: Message posted
:
 
I think I was confused because some formatting does move when you sort -
cell shading for example. Maybe I just have not used individual cell
borders much in the past and so I had not noticed that they don't
move.

It seems really strange to me that if you shade a cell and put a border
around it and then sort your list the shading moved and the border does
not! Anyway I think you are right and I can make Excel do what I would
like it too with conditional formatting.

Thanks for your help.
Monika



This is normal behaviour for Excel. I don't understand your second
sentence,
as I don't think it varies between versions. Maybe you are not
remembering
correctly. I mostly use Excel97 and this is certainly the behaviour I
see.

Sorting doesn't move the cells; it moves the data. Hence any
formatting
stays where it was, as this is a function of the cell, not the data.

One thought: What you have seen in the past may have been the result
of
conditional formatting. This, of course, is how you make the cell
format
dependent on the data. Suppose, for example, that you conditionally
format
so that the highest data value has a border. When you sort, the
highest
value moves, so the border is visible on a different cell - appearing
to
have moved with the data.
 
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