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Amie709's avatar
Amie709
Copper Contributor
Jan 20, 2023

Excel column-I need help

I'm trying to add a column to an existing excel document but the column will not move with the rows. It stays fixed in place when I try to rearrange the table. Please help!!

excel
  • mathetes's avatar
    mathetes
    Silver Contributor
    Jan 20, 2023

    Amie709 

     

    Please help us help you by giving a more complete description. Maybe an image or two, or, far better, post a copy of the worksheet in question on OneDrive or Google Drive, and paste a link here that grants edit access.

    But in particular, your description is hard to picture, hard to visualize...so a more clear description of

    • what you're starting with
    • what you're trying to accomplish
    • Amie709's avatar
      Amie709
      Copper Contributor
      Jan 21, 2023

      I can't share the content but picture it like a table of book entries. Each column represents a part of the book (title, author, number of pages, etc.). Those columns were already in the document and I am trying to add a column with publication date for the book. When I add the publication date for each book and then sort the table by column (for example, authors name A-Z) all the rows rearranged themselves like they are supposed to-except the one I created-that one doesn't move. 

      • mathetes's avatar
        mathetes
        Silver Contributor
        Jan 21, 2023

        Amie709 

         

        • Was the pre-existing identified as an Excel table? (usually evident in rows that alternate in colors)
        • Where did you add the new column? (I'm presuming to the right or the left of the pre-existing.)
        • Is there any space (empty column) between the new and the pre-existing columns? (Note: columns may be hidden)
        • How are you selecting the columns to be sorted? 

         

        I'm sure there are other questions I should be asking....You've done a good job of describing generally what it looks like, but these are procedural questions that I'm trying to get at. How you acquired the data in the first place; how it was set up (as Table or not); how the sort was first defined.....

         

        In essence, and this may just be stating the obvious, Excel has to know that you mean for the new column to be included in the sort; this apparently isn't happening, so the question is why? And that's a procedural matter, I suspect, so we need to get a clearer picture of the procedural steps you've gone through.

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