So you want to get your data back into the original order?

If yes, insert a few columns to the right of the number column.

Then select that column
Data|Text to columns
delimited
by a dot
General for each field

Now you can sort your data by those helper columns---

Or you could insert one more column and use a formula like:
=text(d1,"000.")&text(e1,"000.")&text(f1,"000.")&t ext(g1,"000")
or maybe
=SUBSTITUTE(TRIM(IF(D1="","",TEXT(D1,"000 "))&IF(E1="","",TEXT(E1,"000 "))
&IF(F1="","",TEXT(F1,"000 "))&IF(G1="","",TEXT(G1,"000 ")))," ",".")

(Then the dots will look nice.)

Then your outlining numbers will look like:

001.001.012.001

If you convert this column of formulas to values (edit|copy, edit|paste
special|values), you'll be able to sort it nicely.



Intern Ian wrote:

I am attempting to create a file system using excel that can be easily
searched and sorted by a number ie 1.3.12 or alphabetically. At this time I
have entered the data as I would like it to appear if sorted by number,
however if I attempt to alphabetize I can not restore the numbers to their
proper order.

Currently I have only 3 columns. One with numbers, one with file names, and
one with additional information.

For example

1 Office
1.1 Employees
1.1.1 Bob Marketing
1.1.2 Dave IT
€¦
1.1.12 Joe Marketing
1.2 Equipment
1.2.1 Computers
€¦.
12 Locations
12.1 USA
12.1.1 New York
12.1.1.1 New York Primary
12.2 New Mexico
12.2.1 Albuquerque Primary
€¦
12.2.15 California
12.2.15.1 L.A. Secondary
€¦

Is there any way I can sort these alphabetically using the other two columns
and then get back to the proper numbering? A question that seems to be
similar or related to this can be found he
http://www.excelforum.com/showthread...hreadid=401416

Thanks,
-Ian

--

Dave Peterson