excel sorting problem!

Question

i have two worksheets in excel, both with a lot of rows. 

for work, i need to merge these two sheets into one new worksheet. so i copied and pasted both into the new worksheet, one after the other.

the data contains a bunch of names. in the new sheet, i need to sort by last, then first name.

i sort by last name then by first name. but the result is that it only sorts by last name. if there are people with the same last name, the rows from the second sheet always turn up on top, no matter what the first name is!

this is driving me crazy. any suggestions?

billybob2769 · Accepted Answer

try a pivot table

Marvelous Marv · Answer

Highlight the entire data field but not the column names.

click on toolbar tab  "data" then  "sort".  You have three priorities displayed.  Choose the column with the last names for the first sorting choice.  (This could be column A or B or C or whatever.)  Then chose the column with the first names in it for the second sorting priority.  Click sort or accept and it's done.

GGGG lou EEEE · Answer

Are you sure your columns (Lname, Fname, etc) are the same in both worksheets?  I can only think that maybe the columns from the 1st worksheet might have another column between LName and FName which is causing only your 2nd worksheet to show up on top.

If that doesn't work, you can email me the worksheet and see if I can fix it.
tejanogal@yahoo.com

? · Answer

If you haven't already, you first need to put the last names in one column and the first names in another column.

THEN, you need to enter your sort criteria in the SECOND box.  It's called the THEN BY box.

Excel will then first sort by the first criteria, (last name) and then sort by the next criteria.  (first name.)

luong · Answer

contained in the style show there is an decision on the backside for Header row or no header row. make beneficial header row is chosen and it might go away the header row and style the rest.

Trending News

excel sorting problem!

5 Answers