A spreadsheet I created years ago to house information that occasionally gets added will no longer sort. I’m only sorting some rows/columns, not the entire spreadsheet and only by Column A, no others. Up until now, I never had a problem. Now, it will neither sort nor tell me what the problem is.
I have been sorting data on spreadsheets for many years, and know how it is supposed to work. The spreadsheet in question is 17 columns wide and 220 rows long. It has 3 header rows at the top. I have sorted this same spreadsheet many times in the past without any issue. It only needs to be sorted using one column, A.
I figured out the issue myself. I didn’t notice this time that Column A-a header column-had no data in it. I should have been sorting by Column B. I simply deleted Column A and re-attempted to sort, which now worked.
dhdowning987 wrote:
I didn’t notice this time that Column A-a header column-had no data in it.
Well, yes, I suppose trying to sort on a column with no data is unlikely to give useful results!😀
Pretty soon perhaps Siri's "Apple Intelligence" will remind us when we make a rookie mistake like that.
SG
When you sort by a column in a Numbers table the values in the other columns "follow" the new sort order. It's always been that way.
Alphabetize or sort table data in Numbers on Mac - Apple Support
If you need to sort by one column only, without affecting the others, then select the cells in the column, hold down the "mouse" and drag until they "lift" so you can drag them onto the canvas. Sort, then select the cells and drag them back into their original position in the original table.
SG
Sort function no longer works on spreadsheet
