Can't Sort In Excel After Adding Column/Row?

Question

So, everything's going along great. I can sort, and life is good. Then I decide it would be nice to have another column of data, so I add it, and now sorting does not work properly. It will sort a seemingly random set of cells (3 over 6 down, 4 over 3 down, etc), but will no longer sort the entire grid.

What happened? What do I need to do in order to add the column in and still be able to sort my data?


PS - This happened before when I added a row under the header row for space. I have since removed it in order to create peace in my grid. All was well.

Note: I am using the Quick Sort buttons in the toolbar in Excel. When I do the sort via the Menu Data->Sort, everything works OK.

Answer 1

The original sort criteria included the rows and columns that were applicable originally. After adding more rows or columns you must FIRST highlight the new area (all the added rows and columns plus the original rows and columns) that you want included in the sort. Then you go through the sort operation, defining what is the primary, secondary, and tertiary sorts and the order of the sorts (increasing, decreasing, etc). Then you do the sort.

Your problem is that you are doing a sort on the original set of rows and columns and not the current sort.