Thanks Tom--

I guess I wasn't as clear as I should have been.  [See below]

----- Original Message -----
From: "Tom Turak" <[log in to unmask]>
To: <[log in to unmask]>
Sent: Friday, August 15, 2003 5:05 PM
Subject: Re: [PCSOFT] Data sort errors in Excel


> I'm sorry if I misunderstood this Paul, but from what your wrote it seems
> not all columns / rows are sorting, causing First Street's completion
date
> to now be on the row for Second Street.  The most common cause for this
is a
> problem with the header row, and the most common problem is an empty cell
in
> the header row.  What occurs is Excel doesn't automatically select
adjacent
> columns or rows if there might be blanks.
>
> The immediate fix is to make sure the header row has a label for every
> column.  Then, SELECT the region to sort.  Clicking into a table and
> choosing Data, Sort, does not allow you to adjust the sort region, so
> pre-select the area to sort.  This gives Excel a chance to complain about
> problems it is about to have with your table.  Some of the messages are
> "adjacent columns look like they should be included".  See if this helps.

When I indicated that the individual selected the table, I meant that
he clicked on the 'corner marker' beside columns A-ZZetc., and
above rows 1-65000+.  This marker selects the entire table for
purposes of sorting.  Your conclusion, though (that not all of the
columns sorted), was correct.  I'll convey the rest of your information
to the gentleman, and see if, perhaps, there is an empty cell in the
header row.  I've also been told that the columns chosen to sort on
are best located at columns A, B--to the left, though why this should
be the case, I can't imagine.  (I've never had a problem with the
location of the sorting rows.)
>
> If I haven't described your problem exactly, let me know and I will try
to
> answer.
>
> Tom Turak
>
> -----Original Message-----
> From: Paul A. Shippert [mailto:[log in to unmask]]
> Sent: Thursday, August 14, 2003 6:53 PM
>
> Greetings list--
>
> An employee of the agency for which I provide network and user support
> has apprised me of a problem with sorting work order data in a
multi-sheet
> Excel workbook.  The computer is a P4 1.6 GHz, 128 RAM, 10GB Hard
> Disk desktop by Gateway, and it is networked with 9 other client
computers
> in a Win NT 4.0 server environment.
>
> The symptoms of the problem are as follows:
> All sheets of the workbook have the same row 1 column names and, on a
sort,
> the first row is indicated as a header row.
> As it is a work order tracking tool, start date and end date are two of
the
> columns.
> As might be expected, not all cells are filled in with completion dates.
> The employees using the spreadsheet were "savvy" enough to put house
> numbers after street names to facilitate sorting data to find a given
> order.
> When the entire worksheet is selected, and a data sort is initiated by
> street
> name (with the first row indicated as a header row) the sheet *seems* to
> sort.
> What happens, though, is that data in cells (I'm speculating here, as I
> didn't
> create it) with 'general' number formatting is sorted, but the cells
> formatted
> as 'date' do not sort, i.e., a completion date will be associated with
what
> was
> formerly a job with a blank cell in that column.
>
> Is there something this individual is missing in sorting or formatting
> which
> makes this sort fail to rearrange complete rows based on the chosen
> sorting column?
>
> If anyone has an idea how to fix this, please let me know.
> I'd sure like to look like an Excel lizard, er.... wizard, as well as the
> "computer and network mechanic."
>
> Paul A. Shippert
>
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