Arranging words in a column in dictionary wise order

[Zubair]

Hi,

I have a table of contact list in which person's employer name is entered.
What i want is to use that employer name (from input column) and arrange
these firms name in alphabetical order so that i can apply data validation on
it.

My second question is in relation to it. To apply data validation, I need
every employer name once. So how can I filter or extract the employer name
(as there are more than one people working for same company) from that
column, and that extracted column will be arranged alphabetically to reach
the company easily.

Kind regards,
Zubair

 

[trip_to_tokyo]

"I have a table of contact list in which person's employer name is entered.
What i want is to use that employer name (from input column) and arrange
these firms name in alphabetical order so that i can apply data validation on
it."

In EXCEL 2007:-

Highlight the range the you wish to arrange (for example cells A 1 to A 9
inclusive)

Data / Sort & Filter group / Sort / click on the A to Z button / Sort pop up
should appear / in here Sort by Column A (if that is the range upon which you
are sorting) / Sort On Values / Order A to Z / OK.

Your data will now be in alpha order.

If my comments have helped please hit Yes.

Thanks.

 

[trip_to_tokyo]

"My second question is in relation to it. To apply data validation, I need
every employer name once. So how can I filter or extract the employer name
(as there are more than one people working for same company) from that
column, and that extracted column will be arranged alphabetically to reach
the company easily."

To apply data validation: do you mean that in the Employer column you only
want the user to be able to enter the employer name only once in any row?

 

[Basil]

You could also create a pivot table (select your table and then go to
data>pivot table) and put employer name in the row field and also data field
(the data field will be a count of cells by default which you probably won't
need).

This will automatically give you an alphabetically sorted list of the
employers (each employer only once) in the first column and the number of
times each employer appears in your list in the 2nd column. Use the first
column as your validation list.

 

[trip_to_tokyo]

Sorry skipped from 6. to 9. My error in the numbering only. No text missing.
Apologies.

 

[Ashish Mathur]

Hi,

To extract the unique employer names, use Advanced filters. Select the
column of cells and select "Copy to another location". In the List range,
select the range (including the header row) and leave the criteria blank.
In the copy to box, select any blank cell.. Check the box for unique records
only. CLick on OK

--
Regards,

Ashish Mathur
Microsoft Excel MVP
www.ashishmathur.com