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Can't sort data by multiple levels


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#1
magusbuckley

magusbuckley

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Hello:

I have Excel 2007 and am trying to sort data by mutliple leves.

There are several column headers - the first two being First Name and Last Name. I've asked Excel to "Sort By" First Name and "Then By" Last Name, but the Last Name colum never organizes itself.

I have three people named Tom - Activo, Davidson, and Grife. When I sorted the data, Excel grouped all of the Toms together, but it has them in this order - Activo, Grife, and then Davidson. I'm assuming this is the order the names were embeded within the rest of the data prior to my sort. I can't understand, though, why the last name column isn't sorting as well.

Any ideas?

Thanks,

Magus
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#2
Vino Rosso

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Hello Magnus

I have three people named Tom - Activo, Davidson, and Grife. When I sorted the data, Excel grouped all of the Toms together, but it has them in this order - Activo, Grife, and then Davidson.

I'd start off by suggesting that you check the content each the last names cells. Check that there aren't any unwanted or strange characters in the names. For those three, try re-entering the last names by typing them in yourself. Is there still a problem with the sort?
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#3
magusbuckley

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Vino -

Thanks for the reply. The problem turned out to be the data in the first name field. I realized, after making my post, that I was only having problems with the sort in one section so realized then it must be the data. Everything else, even the second colum, was sorting fine. I re-entered the data in the First Name field for those three people and then the sorting worked fine. I guess there was a space after the end of one of the names or something. At any rate, you were right on queue. I was coming back to post my followup and saw you're recomendation. Again, you were right on target.

Thanks for the help. Case Closed! :D

Magus
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#4
Vino Rosso

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Well done, Magnus. It's good to hear you got it sorted! :D ;)
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