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Excel MS Office 2010 Question!

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  • 05-03-2013 11:41am
    #1
    ruth_wex
    Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭


    Right this is driving me cracked and I need help! Doing book-keeping work on MS Office 2010 for the first time in a while and am stuck on a "sort" issue on Excel! :confused:

    Basically I've got a doc done up with details of purchase receipts. I've got about 500 rows of info with about 15 columns per row. Column A contains the relevant date for the receipt and Column D containing the Reference number I assigned to it (which is also written on the receipt). These reference numbers are for the most part in sequence except along the way certain numbers need to be deleted if receipts turn out to be void or whatever. So the column is not in perfect sequence. Hope that makes sense....

    Anyway .. I'm always just handed a huge stack of receipts in no particular order and it would be an insane waste of time to sort them chronologically prior to entering the data. Usually (on my bandy old office computer) I can just click "sort"----"Sort by Column A" and bam, the whole thing is sorted with all of the data exactly the same except arranged according to the date. The reference numbers move with the respective data. Perfect!

    However .... working on the laptop here I can't seem to do this. When I click "sort"
    "sort by Column A", yes it goes into chronological order but all of my reference numbers basically stay as they were and don't move with their assigned row. They start from the first number I had (in this case 1514) and just start a perfect sequence from there. Is there a way that I can fix this? I need the reference numbers to match up to the receipts and this is driving me bonkers!

    There's probably a really simple solution and I've probably given waaaaaay to much detail but sure! Thanks in advance! :D
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    #2
    marcus2000
    Registered Users Posts: 400 ✭✭marcus2000


    Are Columns B and C empty?
    Normally when there is a table of data, excel will prompt if you want to sort just on the current column or if you'd like to extend it to all columns? If there is an empty column, sometimes it thinks thats the end of the table?


    Have you tried highlighting all the columns before clicking sort?


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    #3
    Al Capwned
    Registered Users Posts: 5,721 ✭✭✭Al Capwned


    Highlight all the data, then sort by whatever column you wish.

    Sounds like you are just sorting one column, not the whole thing.


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    #4
    imtdub
    Registered Users Posts: 249 ✭✭imtdub


    Al Capwned wrote: »
    Highlight all the data, then sort by whatever column you wish.

    Sounds like you are just sorting one column, not the whole thing.

    As the above post, may be you're not highlighting all the columns.


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    #5
    ruth_wex
    Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭ruth_wex


    marcus2000 wrote: »
    Are Columns B and C empty?
    Normally when there is a table of data, excel will prompt if you want to sort just on the current column or if you'd like to extend it to all columns? If there is an empty column, sometimes it thinks thats the end of the table?


    Have you tried highlighting all the columns before clicking sort?

    No Columns A through AF all have info in them. Column A has the date and D has the reference number though! I've highlighted all of the relevant cells and then clicked sort the way I usually would!

    I'm confused!! :confused:


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    #6
    ruth_wex
    Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭ruth_wex


    All the columns are highlighted yes! :)


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    #7
    imtdub
    Registered Users Posts: 249 ✭✭imtdub


    ruth_wex wrote: »
    All the columns are highlighted yes! :)

    When you click on the Sort button, do you use sort by oldest to newest or custom sort?


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    #8
    ruth_wex
    Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭ruth_wex


    imtdub wrote: »
    When you click on the Sort button, do you use sort by oldest to newest or custom sort?

    Oldest to newest ... should I do custom?!


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    #9
    marcus2000
    Registered Users Posts: 400 ✭✭marcus2000


    Try adding a Filter to the top row of the worksheet. You can use the filter sort option to see if that works instead.


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    #10
    imtdub
    Registered Users Posts: 249 ✭✭imtdub


    ruth_wex wrote: »
    Oldest to newest ... should I do custom?!

    You can try that, to see if it makes any difference.


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    #11
    ruth_wex
    Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭ruth_wex


    marcus2000 wrote: »
    Try adding a Filter to the top row of the worksheet. You can use the filter sort option to see if that works instead.


    So. .. eh ... how do I add a filter and what does that mean?! ... :confused:


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    #12
    marcus2000
    Registered Users Posts: 400 ✭✭marcus2000


    Sort.jpg


    Click Data/Click Filter........and it allows you filter rows (chose certain types) OR Sort them.....

    CLick on the Down arrow beside the column you want sorted, to sort it!!!!


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    #13
    Al Capwned
    Registered Users Posts: 5,721 ✭✭✭Al Capwned


    marcus2000 wrote: »
    CLick on the Down arrow beside the column you want sorted, to sort it!!!!

    Sorted. :cool:


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    #14
    ruth_wex
    Registered Users Posts: 57 ✭✭ruth_wex


    Ha right ok thanks a mil for the advice guys but it turns out it was a lot simpler than I thought! The girl who I took the files from had started the work for the first half of the year and rather than just dragging down the cells where the reference numbers are in order to make a sequence, she had put in a formula ( cell X + 1) and then dragged that down, so when I tried to sort according to A, it fecked it all up as the formula still stood!

    That probably makes no sense, but anyway, when I changed that I was able to just sort the whole thing as usual and it treated each reference number as a static cell just like all of the others and didn't change the data! Phew ... that deserves a tea break ....

    Cheers anyway for the help! :D


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