Column Linking / Sorting

Copper Contributor

I'm creating an Excel document akin to a table of contents, with a numerical value in column A and an item in column C.

 

Reaching the end of the sheet, I continued on in column G as a continuation of A, and I as a continuation of C, to keep all the data on one page.

 

My dilemma is I need to be able to sort this document back and forth either numerically or alphabetically, at will, depending on need. Is there a way to link G to A and I to C so that A/G are treated as one column, and C/I are treated as one column?

6 Replies

@GotBeeef 

I'd keep everything in columns A to C. With your current setup, it's far too complicated to sort.

@Hans Vogelaar Thank you for responding. Do you recommend going a different route to accomplish the same goal? Starting over from scratch is a viable option for me. I need to do this several times over and I'd like to get a game plan going before I dive in too heavily.

@GotBeef 

Just enter all numeric values in column A, one below the other., and the items in column C.

I'd enter headers in A1, B1 and C1, then turn on autofilter (select A1, then click Sort & Filter > Filter on the Home tab of the ribbon).

You can then easily sort and filter on each of the columns.

@Hans Vogelaar Ordinarily, I would do just that. However, in this instance, there are too many line items involved and I want to restrict this list to a single page, hence continuing on to an additional set of columns on the same page.

 

If there is no way to accomplish this, I will just do as we agree is the simplest method, sort, then copy/paste whatever ends up on the second page into an additional set of columns, then print. 

@GotBeef 

I don't see a way to sort the data if you use non-contiguous blocks.

This very much surprises me but, either way, I do appreciate your time and insight.