This operation requires the merged cells to be identically sized.

  • Thread starter Thread starter Earl Brant
  • Start date Start date
E

Earl Brant

Using Excel 97.
I have Columne A-H, Lines 2 - 428 (line 1 is a header/title of that column).
Added information to line 429. Highlighted A-H, 2-49 and tried to Sort by
going to >Data>Sort>Column A>Ascending>OK...and get the error message
"This operation requires the merged cells to be identically sized."
Went to web site:
http://support.microsoft.com/default.aspx?scid=kb;en-us;q157111#appliesto
Still cannot get columns to sort with line 429 in proper alpha order.
Had no problems with this until I added line 429.

Can you be of assistance?

Thank You!!!
 
Hi
do you have merged cells in rows 2-428 or in row 429. You probably have
different formats in these rows.

On a sitenote: If you use merge cells I'd recommend not to do this.
They often cause more problems than doing something good :-)
 
Select all the cells, and choose Format>Cells
On the Alignment tab, remove the check mark from Merge Cells
Click OK
Try the sort again, and it should work correctly.
 
Begs the question though as to why you had a merged cell in there in the first
place. If you don't know what it was, how do you know you didn't just break
something. Would suggest taking a quick look through the data and making sure
nothing was dependent on that cell. You likely as not have a blank cell now in
one of the cells in Col B:H whereas it was merged before. It won't be in A
because unmerging would leave data in the cell to the left. Never hurts to
check, even if you don't find anything.
 
KEN,

Its not that I didn't know what the merged cell WAS.............what I ment
was that I DON"T KNOW what a merged cell IS.....really...I have no idea what
it is...would you be so kind as to explain it in layman's (novice) language.
Thanks a Million,
Earl
 
Hi
Excel has the 'feature' to combine two or mor cells into one (goto
'Format - Cells - Alignment' after selecting several cells and check
'merged cells). This may be useful for formating purposes (e.g. merge
tow heading cells to easily center data above to columns).
Though: I think nearly all would recommend (me included) NOT to use
this feature. It will almost definetly cause trouble (as you
encountered by yourself). I would suggest playing with this featur for
short while (to learn its functionality) and then forget about it :-)
 
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