Excel Sort Numeric Column By Number

Question

I have a column of integers in my spreadsheet, and the column is formatted as a number. Each cell inside the column is formatted as a number.

But I can't seem to sort them in numerical order - you know, 1,2...9,10,11...

Instead, it always sorts them according to text sorting : 10, 100, 101, 102...11, 111, 112, ....

How can I sort my column of numbers by number instead of by text?

Answer 1

It sounds as if your numbers are being interpreted as text by Excel. A good indication of this is that they automatically align to the left of each cell. Numbers normally are aligned to the right.

If this is the case, a simple fix is to move into a cell, press F2 then Enter. Repeat for each cell containing the numbers that don't sort. This works by putting the cell into edit mode and then out again. If the contents can be interpreted as a number then Excel converts it to a number.

If you have too many cells to do this manually, you can use the VALUE function to create another column contain true numeric values and then paste them (by value) back over the offending cells.

Answer 2

You can do this on the data directly in a single shot by without creating working columns. My favoured method is using Paste Special (I normal multiply by the "text" by 1)

Debra Dalgleish provides 7 methods here, http://www.contextures.com/xlDataEntry03.html

The Paste Special method as listed by Debra is

• Select a blank cell
• Choose Edit>Copy
• Select the cells that contain the numbers
• Choose Edit>Paste Special
• Select Add
• Click OK To apply number formatting, choose Format>Cells
• On the Number tab, select the appropriate format, then click OK