this is what I want to accomplish w/ my spreadsheet.

I have all these different accounts IE: cup a joes, nice price books, third place, etc.

those are all in a column. I have other columns w/ different variables such as where the place is (hillsborough, glenwood), do they service CDs (yes/no), do they have a community corner (yes/no), etc.

what I want to do is be able to sort through these different categories when need be. much like how you can do in itunes or music match by sorting by genre, song length, album name etc.

what are the formulas and steps I need to take to do this.

help would be mucho appreciated.

thanks!

7/20/2006 9:59:48 AM

I'm no expert, but can't you just highlight the rows you want to sort and just click the sorting icon? Can't really say, I've never had the need.

If you want complex sorts you'd probably be better off putting your stuff in Access.

Edit: Maybe this will help: http://www.extension.iastate.edu/Pages/Excel/unit4/sorting.html

[Edited on July 20, 2006 at 10:28 AM. Reason : link]

7/20/2006 10:25:31 AM

yes, you are right about the sorting icon, but in my limited experience that only sorts that column.

I need to find a way to tie the rows together then that sort thing will work perfectly for me.

a step in the right direction however. thanks!

7/20/2006 10:36:35 AM

highlight everything...

Data then Filter then AutoFilter

see if that is what you want

7/20/2006 10:41:55 AM

that is almost exactly what I want.

for example if I filtered it for "skateparks" and I had all my skatepark accounts come up, is there a way to show the other accounts IE coffee, eatery below it, just grouped together as well?

if not it isn't a big deal, just curious.

thank you so much, you just earned big time karma points. haha

7/20/2006 10:50:01 AM

check out pivot tables

7/20/2006 10:56:12 AM

enlighten me.

any knowledge of excel I had from HS is now gone.

sorry to be a tard.

7/20/2006 10:57:54 AM

i'd check out the excel help or google for a tutorial.

pivot tables are a little complicated, but very powerful once you know how to do it

7/20/2006 11:12:39 AM

Quote :

"yes, you are right about the sorting icon, but in my limited experience that only sorts that column. I need to find a way to tie the rows together then that sort thing will work perfectly for me. a step in the right direction however. thanks!"

you shouldnt have to use autofilter, pivot tables etc.

this sounds basic enough that excels sorting should work. in order for the sorting to grab all rows, there can't be an entire column thats blank.

for example. say you had 4 columns: Name, street number, phone#, price of coffee

A            B           C               D
Joes        5654      444-5487     2.05
Books      1229      555-4787     1.99
Third       0152      128-8787     3.25

A            B         C               D
Joes                  444-5487     2.05
Books                555-4787     1.99
Third                 128-8787     3.25

7/20/2006 11:22:29 AM

christ, people - don't make this more complicated than it needs to be.
Just highlight all the data you want sorted, go to Data > Sort, then select the column you want to sort by. All the rows will remain intact.

7/20/2006 12:02:28 PM

heck yes,

exactly what I wanted.

karma train choo choo!

7/20/2006 12:46:14 PM

^^ well yes but if wants to sort without having to always highlight shit and using the Data-Sort then my explanation was needed

7/20/2006 12:50:25 PM

If you are sorting by either the first or last column then you don't even need to do Data--Sort. Just select the block of cells starting with the row that you want sorted.

If you have 4 columns and 4 rows and you want Column A sorted, select A1 and drag down to D4 and then hit the sort button. If you want Column D sorted, select D1 and drag down to A4 and then hit the sort button. If you want it sorted by Column B or C, then you have to use the Data menu.

[Edited on July 20, 2006 at 1:29 PM. Reason : ]

7/20/2006 1:26:51 PM

^ well, that's not exactly true.
If you have a 4x4 table and you want it sorted by the 2nd column (col B), then click A1 and drag down to D4 to highlight the table. You'll that even though the whole table is highlighted, A1 is "active", because it should still be white. Now just press Tab, and the active cell will shift to B1. Then you can just click the sort button, and it will sort based on B1 because it is the active cell.

7/20/2006 1:31:51 PM

^ nice touch. didn't know about that.

Quote :

"yes, you are right about the sorting icon, but in my limited experience that only sorts that column."

The Windows version of Excel asks you if you want to sort the rest of the data, doesn't it?



Just select the column you want to sort, hit the sort button, click yes at the dialog box, and it will sort all columns with data that (directly or indirectly) touch your sorting column. If you have a blank column somewhere that you want to sort over, then you'll have to select all of the relevant data.

7/20/2006 1:40:48 PM