sorting problem

[Guest]

How does Excel 2002 sort a worksheet when you use the sort tool? I want to
quickly sort a spreadsheet by one column, for example to see how many people
fit into a particular category, so i click on the top cell of the column and
click the sort (A-Z) tool. But not all columns sort with the sorted column,
so my data get scrambled. How do I avoid this? Sometimes it seems to work
correctly and other times it doesn't. I don't understand why.

 

[Ragdyer]

Never, never, never, never use the sort icons on the toolbar.

XL is right most of the time, but not all of the time.

Select all the data you wish to include in the sort, and then:
<Data> <Sort>
and choose the parameters.

If you have a set range that you sort often, simply assign it a name.
Then, click on the range name in the "Name Box" to select it, and then start
the sort.

I've removed those icons from the toolbars of all my users!

 

[Guest]

Thanks Ragdyer. Do you know why it doesn't work all the time?

 

[Dave Peterson]

If you have gaps in your range--either empty columns or empty rows, then excel
may not guess the correct range to sort.

And it could mess up the sort by including the headers as data (or by treating
the first row as data instead of headers).

I know that whatever I want is exactly what excel doesn't guess <vbg>.