Sorting numbers in Excel

[LawyerRon]

I’ve used the data sort feature in Excel for many years but I’ve run across an issue I can’t solve.

I’m sorting a list of about 1,000 part numbers. Some part numbers have a letter at the end. For instance the part number list might look like this:

114020
114020B
101010
101010B
10001
10001B

I want to sort the list in descending numerical order so it would look like this:

10001
10001B
101010
101010B
114020
114020B

In other words, I want the part number with the “B” to fall in line right after the same part number without the “B”.

What’s happening now is that when I sort, all the numbers without the “B” appear in numerical order at the top of the list, and then all the numbers with “B” appear in numerical order at the end of the list. A friend helped me with this several years ago but I can’t remember how it was done.

TIA

[pam123]

Hi LawyerRon,
I think this is what you're looking for : http://support.microsoft.com/kb/322067

[LawyerRon]

Thanks Pam.

I was hoping for an easier way tho. I think I can figure it out.

[mairving]

Originally Posted by LawyerRon Thanks Pam. I was hoping for an easier way tho. I think I can figure it out.

That's probably the easiest way. Just type in the formula in a blank column copy it all the way down in the column (hold down the shift key while pressing the down arrow or page down). You can then highlight the column that you just created, click copy and paste special, values only into a new column, then delete the other 2 columns.

[LawyerRon]

OK, I got it working. Thanks!