data sorting problem

[jillsimone]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I am trying to do a standard data sort by names and dates, but I get the following error message: "This operation requires the merged cells to be identically sized." I had removed subtotals from this data; could this have anything to do with the sorting problem? Thanks for any help.

 

[JE McGimpsey]

Version: 2008
Operating System: Mac OS X 10.5 (Leopard)
Processor: Intel

I am trying to do a standard data sort by names and dates, but I get the
following error message: "This operation requires the merged cells to be
identically sized." I had removed subtotals from this data; could this have
anything to do with the sorting problem? Thanks for any help.

No - you've got merged cells, which are terrible awful no-good things
to have, since they screw up sorts, formatting, copy/paste, selections,
etc. Friends don't let friends merge cells.

Remove them and try the sort again.

 

[jillsimone]

Thanks for your response. Still another question...I didn't intentionally merge any cells. How do I identify them?

 

[Laroche J]

I was going to suggest you use a macro, but since you have version 2008 I
can only propose a manual solution: proceed by elimination. Here's the
principle. In the cell formatting window, any check box with a minus sign in
it indicates that among the many cells currently selected the particular
property is set to ON for some cells and to OFF for others. Knowing this you
can select a range of rows or columns, look at the Merge Cells property, and
see at a glance if any of the selected cells has this property set. Reduce
the size of the range until you pinpoint the merged cells, if you cannot see
them by eye. Repeat with the next range. As an ultimate verify the property
on the whole sheet.

For those with a macro-enabled Excel the following macro would work (beware
the line-wrapping in this posting):

Sub FindMerge()
For Each c In ActiveSheet.UsedRange.Cells
If c.MergeCells = True Then MsgBox "Cell " & c.Address & " is
merged"
Next
End Sub


JL
Mac OS X 10.4.11, Office v.X 10.1.9