I cannot sort my data correctly because the sort warning will not display

Question

I am running Windows 7 Professional with Excel 2010.

I have a rather large spreadsheet.  I am wanting to sort by three columns.  When I sorted earlier, I got the sort warning "The following sort key may not sort as expected because it contains some numbers formatted as text."  I got this warning for all three of the sort columns.  That is not a problem.  However, on one of the fields I clicked "Sort numbers and numbers stored as test separately."  It didn't sort the way I wanted it to.

So I go back and try to sort again so I can select the correct option which would be "Sort anything that looks like a number, as a number."  But it does not display the sort warning for the field that I need it to.

What can I do to make the sort warning be displayed for this column.

Any help would be greatly appreciated.

Scott

Answer 1

Hi Scott,

Thanks for posting Microsoft Community.

I will assist you trying to resolve the issue.

Which option are you selecting to sort? Is it Smallest to Largest (A-Z), Largest to Smallest (Z-A) or Sortfrom the Data tab?

If you select Smallest to Largest (A-Z) or Largest to Smallest (Z-A), then the sort warning would not be displayed.

It will display the warning only if you click on the Sort button under Data tab.

Check the following link for detailed information regarding sorting and see if it helps:

http://office.microsoft.com/en-in/excel-help/sort-data-in-a-range-or-table-HP010342909.aspx

Reply with the necessary information for further assistance.

Thank You.​

Answer 2

I have the same issue.

I have tried all options and I don't get the Sort Warning anymore. Is there another way to make the Sort Warning Window pop up as user will? I have two tables that I need to compare and in one table I can make the Sort Warning pop up but in the second table. In this scenario I can work around; but when I have my two tables and I don't get the warning, then I have no way to even work around.

I think that for future versions of Excel, this Sort Warning should be something that we as user could control in a more easy way.., I have read a lot of threads about disabling it; but just a few trying to enable it.

Thank you.