Excel not sorting all values together

Question

Sorry if this has been asked before but I could not find a previous post.

I have an excel sheet simply containing two columns of text data. I want to sort them A to Z. I have 40 sorted values, and added an additional 13 unsorted values below it. When I click sort in either the right click menu or the tool bar to sort from A to Z it sorts the 13 additional values separately from the already sorted 40 values simply adding them to the bottom of the list. If you insert the 13 new values in the middle of 40, break up the 13 into chunks and spread them throughout the 40 sorting will result in it returning to the form described previously. Other forms of sorting such as sorting by color still seem to work but sorting A to Z or Z to A does not. I have tried copying just the text over into a new excel file and have had the same issue.

For System Info:

Windows 11 with no updates waiting

Answer 1

Looking at that image, there is something before the actual text in the first 20 or so rows as they are not aligned completely to the left of the cell.

Answer 2

There is only one data point that starts with a number and it is sorted to the top of the original 40. The 13 new values all start with letters. I did discover that the original 40 where formatted as text and the remaining 13 as general. After turning all values to text or general the issue remains. Is there anything else about the data itself the could be causing this miss sort? Here is an image of the last serval values showing the break in sorting. After doing a trying a few different things I have learned that numerical values added to the list will sort correctly but any text will not.

Answer 3

It sounds like your data probably isn't what you think it is. For example, numbers stored as text will sort after true numbers.

Answer 4

I have been selecting the whole list to to sort it., but just selecting one does not appear to make a difference The list does not contain any empty spaces.

Answer 5

I'm not sure what's happening; however, it is important to note that to sort a list you should either 1. Select the entire list, or 2. Select only a single cell in the list, 3. The list should be compact - no blank entries.