Cannot expand the selection to entire spreadsheet when sorting

[Mikki]

I have a spreadsheet with 9 columns. I want to sort the last column and
first columns. I am highlighting the column and clicking on Sort. I get the
popup asking if I want to expand the selection (which I tell it to expand).
It will only expand the selection to the two columns on the end and will not
include the prior columns. To troubleshoot, I checked the prior columns by
highlighting the entire column. When doing so, the Sort is disabled for all
the columns but the last two.

I've also copied/pasted the contents into a new file and am having the same
problem. I'm out of ideas and am open to suggestions.

I'm running Office 2007 w/SP1.

Thanks in advance!

 

[Shane Devenshire]

Hi,

The selection will not expand across a totally blank column or row. Just
select all the data, for example A1:H100, and then choose the sort command.

In addition, I am not clear on what you mean by "I checked the prior columns
by

highlighting the entire column. When doing so, the Sort is disabled for all
the columns but the last two." What do you mean by checked the prior columns? Where did you check them? When you say the sort is disabled for all ... what do you mean? If you put your cursor in any single cell of any other column except the last two, are you saying the Sort options in not available? What version of Excel are you using?

 

[Mikki]

Thanks Shane. I'm running Excel 2007 w/SP1. All columns have data in them,
so that isn't the problem. When I say that I checked the other columns, what
I mean is that I highlighted the individual columns. When I do so, the Sort
function is disabled on all but the last two columns. I have tried to
highlight all the cells and then select Sort but that doesn't work either -
the Sort is disabled.

The strange thing is that I can copy/paste the last 2/3 of the spreadsheet
into a new file and I am able to sort it. My guess is that there is some
strange command/value buried in the top 1/3 rows that is causing the Sort to
be disabled. I just have no idea what it could be.

This is just a basic spreadsheet - the columns are either text or dates, no
formulas, etc. Nothing more than a basic sheet. The only thing that it had
at one time were some rows were grouped and some cells were merged. Over the
life of the document, all these have been removed and there are no merged
cells or any grouping. I've pretty much resigned myself to having to re-type
the data into a new sheet - I was just hoping to avoid that in the interest
of time - but the time that I've spent on this problem at this point, I could
have re-typed everything!

Thanks for your help.