sorting question

[Harvey Waxman]

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.

 

[Jay]

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–

 

[Harvey Waxman]

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?