Suzy,

It expects to either use the top row of your selection as the header (from
where it gets the column names for the Sort dialog), where it will leave it
at the top, or to treat the top row of the selection as data, and sort it
like any other. If you must leave the layout as it is, you'll have to
manually select the data, sans headers, then tell the Data - Sort dialog you
don't have a header. It will identify your columns only by letter now, not
by name.

Perhaps you could move those other two rows above the actual headers. You
may want to put an empty row above the real header, which you can hide, if
you're using expanded selection (select a single cell, and let the selection
expand).

--
Earl Kiosterud
mvpearl omitthisword at verizon period net
-------------------------------------------

"Suzy Greblo" <Suzy wrote in message
...
I have three rows at the top of my Excel spreadsheet. One row is the column
names; the other two rows contain data used in formulae elsewhere in the
spreadsheet. Is there any way to do it without first selecting the data?
I've
found this method is very prone to error.

How do I sort the data without sorting in the three header rows?
Designating
"header row" in the sort dialogue only identifies one row.