Forum Discussion

Copper Contributor

Nov 08, 2019

excel sort custom list disappeared

I had to reinstall Excel after a Win10 update mashed my OS. However, I had created long custom sort lists in a number of my workbooks. These have disappeared. Where are these lists stored, and how...

excel

JKPieterse

Silver Contributor

Nov 08, 2019

Those lists are stored in the Windows Registry and if you happen to have used one in a workbook, they can be saved to the registry from there. See: https://support.office.com/en-ie/article/create-or-delete-a-custom-list-for-sorting-and-filling-data-d1cf624f-2d2b-44fa-814b-ba213ec2fd61

Manchester05

Copper Contributor

Nov 08, 2019

Thank you for that lead.

However, all the Registry has been remade and the file has been modified a number of times since then. All the Custom List references in the existing Options and Sort dialogs are empty. Is a copy of the custom list hidden somewhere in the Excel file where it can be revealed and re-used?

I have an old copy of the file with this list still visible on another computer. How do I find/ extract the custom list to apply to my modified file?

Is it possible to save such custom lists, preferably in a user folder with macros etc on another drive, well away from the OS? I store my WordPerfect macros with my user files (backed up of course), where they have been safe for >25 years of computer changes and crashes.

It is not easy (or possible) to recover from failure of some MS programs.

Thank you

Manchester05
Copper Contributor
Nov 08, 2019
Sorry, I have just checked the other computer. I had copied the modified file over the old one, which no longer has the custom list.

I have just found a back-up file from 1 year ago. When I load into the recently installed Win10 OS, the custom list is not there either.

Where would I find it in the registry?