Forum Discussion
Not getting an option to sort largest to smallest, only A to Z
I have a problem with my Excel spreadsheet where I do not get an option to sort numerically in descending order - largest to smallest. I only get an option to sort alphabetically. The cell values are either blank or numeric. Each cell is using the following formula - =IFERROR(VLOOKUP($P10, May3List, 6, FALSE), “”).
In addition, you don't have blank cells, you have cells with empty texts returned by =IFERROR(...,""). As soon as we have texts within the range, even empty, Excel suggests to sort alphabetically. With =IFERROR(...,0) most probably that will be numeric sorting.
RohitNaval Then I suspect that your "numbers" are in fact texts. What do you get when you enter =ISNUMBER(<cell reference>) where the cell reference is a cell where you have the number? FALSE? Then it's not a number. If not, perhaps you can upload an example of your schedule.
- ISNUMBER returns TRUE for cells where I have a number and FALSE where the cells are empty.
In addition, you don't have blank cells, you have cells with empty texts returned by =IFERROR(...,""). As soon as we have texts within the range, even empty, Excel suggests to sort alphabetically. With =IFERROR(...,0) most probably that will be numeric sorting.
SergeiBaklan That is exactly what's happening. Most of the cells are empty and Excel is defaulting to sort alphabetically. Any way to change that sort option to numeric?
I did change the IFERROR formula from "" to 0 and now the sort works numerically. However I have so many zeros showing now.
You may hide zeroes through settings or by custom number format, here is how https://www.techrepublic.com/blog/windows-and-office/pro-tip-three-ways-to-hide-zero-values-in-an-excel-sheet/
RohitNaval I tried filtering my numbers but it just went 1, 220, 34, 460 etc instead of smallest to largest. I fixed it by converting the column I was trying to filter into NUMBER and then doing text to column. For some reason it wasn't converting to numbers until I did text to column. After that it allowed me to filter smallest to largest (1, 34, 220, 460 etc).
- I do the first option
"For some reason it wasn't converting to numbers until I did text to column." YES this finally works now. I was getting so frustrated. annabellas
