Excel spreadsheet has 7 columns. I want to leave columns A-D as is and only
sort the data in columns E-G. When I select the required data and click on
sort, Excel is automatically selecting the entire spreadsheet. How do I only
get the three columns?

One way I could replicate this is if I used Data|List for that range (A:G).

Anything special you're working with????

protected sheet, merged cells, lists, ....

Lauri wrote:

Excel spreadsheet has 7 columns. I want to leave columns A-D as is and only
sort the data in columns E-G. When I select the required data and click on
sort, Excel is automatically selecting the entire spreadsheet. How do I only
get the three columns?

--

Dave Peterson

Hi,

First thing is you specify the column to sort using the sorting list. You
can only sort 3 column at a time.

Please go throu the "Troubleshoot sorting" in the on-line help section.

Check the default sort order rules Microsoft Excel sorts data according to
specific sort order rules.

Default sort order

In an ascending sort, Microsoft Excel uses the following order. (In a
descending sort, this sort order is reversed except for blank cells, which
are always placed last.)

Numbers Numbers are sorted from the smallest negative number to the
largest positive number.

Alphanumeric sort When you sort alphanumeric text, Excel sorts left to
right, character by character. For example, if a cell contains the text
"A100," Excel places the cell after a cell that contains the entry "A1" and
before a cell that contains the entry "A11."

Text and text that includes numbers are sorted in the following order:

0 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 (space) ! " # $ % & ( ) * , . / : ; ? @ [ \ ] ^ _ ` { |
} ~ + < = A B C D E F G H I J K L M N O P Q R S T U V W X Y Z

Apostrophes (') and hyphens (-) are ignored, with one exception: If two text
strings are the same except for a hyphen, the text with the hyphen is sorted
last.

Logical values In logical values, FALSE is placed before TRUE.

Error values All error values are equal.

Blanks Blanks are always placed last.

Check that numbers are in a numeric format If Excel incorrectly sorts a
cell that contains a value, the cell might be formatted as text and not as a
number. For example, negative numbers from some accounting systems become
text when the accounting data is imported into Excel. You can convert numbers
stored as text to numbers.

How?

One cell at a time

On the Tools menu, click Options, and then click the Error Checking tab.

Make sure the Enable background error checking and Number stored as text
boxes are checked.

Select any cell with a green error indicator in the upper left corner .

Next to the cell, click the button that appears , and then click Convert to
Number.

A whole range at once

In an empty cell, enter the number 1.

Select the cell, and on the Edit menu, click Copy.

Select the range of numbers stored as text you want to convert.

On the Edit menu, click Paste Special.

Under Operation, click Multiply.

Click OK.

Delete the content of the cell entered in the first step.

Note Some accounting programs display negative values with the negative
sign (€“) to the right of the value. To convert the text strings to values,
you must return all of the characters of the text string except the rightmost
character (the negation sign), and then multiply the result by €“1. For
example, if the value in cell A2 is "156€“" the following formula converts the
text to the value €“156.

Data Formula
156- =LEFT(A2,LEN(A2)-1)*-1

Check that mixed data is formatted as text If the column you want to sort
contains both numbers and numbers that include text characters (such as 100,
100a, 200, 200a), you need to format them all as text. If you do not, the
numbers will be sorted first, then the numbers that include text will be
sorted. To format a number as text, click Cells on the Format menu, click the
Number tab, and then click Text in the Category list, click OK, and then
retype the value in the cell. To type a number as text when you are entering
new data, format the cell as text before you begin typing.

Check that dates and times are formatted correctly Excel treats dates and
times as numbers. When you type a date or time that Excel recognizes, the
cell's format changes from the General number format to a built-in date or
time format. For Excel to sort correctly, all dates and times in a column
must use a date or time format. If Excel cannot recognize a value as a date,
time, or number, the value is formatted as text. To apply the correct
formatting, click the cell, click Cells on the Format menu, and then click
the Number tab. If the cell is formatted as text, click either Date or Time,
select the appropriate type, click OK, and then retype the value in the cell
in the format you selected.

You may want to sort by days of the week. If you want to sort the cells by
date, format the cells to show the day of the week. If you want to sort or
filter by the day of the week regardless of the date, convert them to text
using the TEXT function. For more information, see Show dates as days of the
week.

Unhide rows and columns before you sort Hidden rows are not moved when you
sort rows, and hidden columns are not moved when you sort columns. However,
when you sort rows, the data in hidden columns is sorted, and when you sort
columns, the data in hidden rows is sorted. Before you sort the range, unhide
the hidden rows and columns.

Remove any leading spaces In some cases, data imported from another
application might have leading spaces inserted before data. Remove the
leading spaces before sorting the data.

Check the locale setting Sort orders vary by locale setting. Make sure
that you have the proper locale setting in Regional Settings or Regional
Options in Control Panel. For information about changing the locale setting,
see your Windows documentation.

Enter column labels in only one row If you need multiple line labels, wrap
the text within the cell.

Check settings for graphic objects The objects' settings may have been
changed so that the objects do not move with cells. Set the objects so that
they can be sorted with cells.

How?

Click Select Objects on the Drawing toolbar (toolbar: A bar with buttons
and options that you use to carry out commands. To display a toolbar, press
ALT and then SHIFT+F10.), and then drag around the objects you want to
change.
Click AutoShape, Picture, TextBox, WordArt, Control, or Object on the Format
menu, and then click Move but don't size with cells on the Properties tab.
Make sure the object fits the exact height and width of the underlying cell
(Press ALT when moving and sizing the control to fit the cell).

Challa Prabhu

"Lauri" wrote:

Excel spreadsheet has 7 columns. I want to leave columns A-D as is and only
sort the data in columns E-G. When I select the required data and click on
sort, Excel is automatically selecting the entire spreadsheet. How do I only
get the three columns?