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Harvey Waxman - 27 Jul 2006 22:34 GMT

I had a column with mostly blanks except for the word 'yes' (no quotes)

In this instance I sorted, first ascending then descending but all the 'yes'
cells stayed at the top of the column after the first sort and wouldn't change.

Why? and How to fix it.

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Jay - 27 Jul 2006 22:59 GMT

> I had a column with mostly blanks except for the word 'yes' (no quotes)
>
> In this instance I sorted, first ascending then descending but all the 'yes'
> cells stayed at the top of the column after the first sort and wouldn't change.
>
> Why? and How to fix it.

When you say 'mostly' blanks except for the word 'yes', do you mean the
column contains only *either* blanks or yes.

If so, the sorting behaviour you have seen is perfectly normal. Excel
will always sort blanks after non-blank cells - ascending OR descending.

If not, can you give an example of the data that's in the column that
isn't being sorted as you expect?

–Jay–

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Harvey Waxman - 28 Jul 2006 01:13 GMT

> When you say 'mostly' blanks except for the word 'yes', do you mean the
> column contains only *either* blanks or yes.

Correct, either blank or 'yes'

> If so, the sorting behaviour you have seen is perfectly normal. Excel
> will always sort blanks after non-blank cells - ascending OR descending.
>
> If not, can you give an example of the data that's in the column that
> isn't being sorted as you expect?

blank
blank
blank
yes
blank
yes
blank
blank

etc.

I finally got it to sort by replacing every blank cell with a space. Is this
the only way?

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Harvey Products makers of Dinghy Dogs
The Boater's Best Friend
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Mac Forum / Applications / Excel / July 2006

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