i have msoffice2000 , in excel spread sheet , i want to sort 5 columns , but in data ,sort only 3 columns for

Sounds like you want to sort 5 columns, not necessarily based on 5 criteria?

The "3 column" limit you are referring to is criteria by which to sort. You can sort a hundred columns all at once, but you can only base it on 3 criteria, unless you write a VBA Macro to do it (which would be rather complicated, as the Sort method in VBA also has a 3 criteria limit, so you would need to essentially create your own method...)

Anyway, for what you want to do, select the range (all 5 columns), then go to "Data" >> "Sort". There, you can select criteria for your sorting method. If you honestly need more than 3 criteria though, you should probably be working this out through a PivotTable.

What you have to do is two sorts; first sort your data by the lowest criteria and then do another sort by the highest criteria ie criteria 4 then 5, then again using criteria 1 then 2 then 3.

If you have to sort like this regularly I suggest you construct a macro that will do this for you, just open a new macro and do the keystrokes, mouse selections that you require. Practice a few times the sequence of mouse moves, keystrokes until you get ithem right every time, then write your macro.

Do not select the entire column A, simply select any cell in column A, then click the sort button. This should automatically keep all the data in all the columns together. This might cause problems with a header row, so it would probably be better to select your entire database and click data, sort. Use the dialog box to sort by column A ascending, and check the box if you have a header row.

select the range that you want to sort through mouse or key