Sort Option in the Toolbar

[Guest]

Here's my problem. I created an Excel spreadsheet that has a report attached
to it. In Excel '97 I used the Data/Filteroption and saved to spreadsheet
for others to use view the spreadsheet in different ways.

I just purchased Excell 2003 Professional, and when I saved the spreadsheet
and report to this new version,it now includes Sort(ascending/descending) in
the drop down menu. Most of the users get confused because clicking on the
Sort key changes all of the information in the report, and it loses it
integrity.

Is there a way to remove the Sort option from the toolbar, and also from the
drop down menu and save the new toolbar, so that the user cannot access it,
even if they use a different version of Excel.

Thanks

 

[Earl Kiosterud]

Fitzgerald,

That sort button is the bane of data integrity. The problem is that if the
related columns aren't immediately adjacent, they don't get included in the
sort, resulting in the Sort of Disaster, as you have found. Such a sort is
undoable, as any, but it isn't immediately apparent that sorting was done
improperly. Excel, for all its power, is not really for end users -- it's
for Excel users. As with other issues, particularly sorting, one must be
keenly aware of Excel's way of doing things. More on this at
www.smokeylake.com/excel. Go to "Excel truths," Sorting.

To make this as user-proof as possible, you should set up a sort macro that
properly selects the entire range, and performs the sort. The users should
use only that one for sorting your table.