Sorting is Greyed Out

Question

Level 1

10 points

Sorting is Greyed Out

I'm trying to sort ascending in a table. Column B is titled "Week Ending" and each cell contains dates. When I click on the arrow at the top of the column, "Sort Ascending" and "Sort Descending" are grayed out. When I use the "Reorganize" icon, clicking the sort options does nothing. Why won't Numbers '09 sort this table?

I want to sort the whole table according to the dates in column B. I know there must be a simple solution but can't find it anywhere. Thanks!!

macbook, Mac OS X (10.5.6)

Posted on Jul 7, 2009 12:22 PM

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Answer 1

dalin Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 7, 2009 1:17 PM in response to dalin

Solved it!

I had cells merged in another column. I guess that Numbers can't sort if you are merging, since it doesn't know where to put the data from those cells. Bummer.

So I guess the rule is: no merging allowed if you want to sort.

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Answer 2

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Jul 7, 2009 12:58 PM in response to dalin

Never got such behavior.

Try to disable the Peferences file:

quit Numbers
Navigate in the Finder to:
Macintosh HD:Users:<yourAccount>:Library:Preferences:com.apple.iWork.Numbers.plist

drag the file on the desktop.

Restart Numbers.

if it behaves well, iit's that your preferences file was corrupted.
If it continue to play the fool the culprit is not identified.

Try to run Numbers from an other User Account.

If it behaves correctly, the culprit is one of the thousands of files stored in your original user account.
If it doesn't, the culprit is one of the thousands of file stored in the global part of the system.

Good luck.

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 7 juillet 2009 21:58:24)

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Answer 3

KOENIG Yvan

Level 8

41,819 points

Jul 7, 2009 12:35 PM in response to dalin

Maybe the table is locked 😉

Yvan KOENIG (from FRANCE mardi 7 juillet 2009 21:35:00)

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Answer 4

dalin Author

Level 1

10 points

Jul 7, 2009 12:39 PM in response to KOENIG Yvan

Nope... it's unlocked, just checked.
Also, it's not limited to the column I want to sort by.... the "sort" option is not available for any of the columns.

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