I suppose you could use a helper column, and sort according to that column.
You could use a formula like this to convert 700-710 to 0700-0710. You could
then hide the helper column.

=TEXT(LEFT(A1,FIND("-",A1)-1),"0000")&"-"&TEXT(RIGHT(A1,LEN(A1)-FIND("-",A1)),"0000")

"Trudy" wrote:

Thank you! Our problem is that our client will not allow leading zeros. I
was hoping to find a custom format that would solve this dilema.

"Sloth" wrote:

Look in the help under "Default sort orders" to gain a better understanding
of how Excel sorts data. I don't think you can change the sorting rules.
You just have to learn to work around them. For example: If you want 700-710
to come before 7000-7100 you will need to enter it as 0700-0710.

"Trudy" wrote:

We have a list of numbers that we are having difficulty sorting. For
example, 7000-7100 should come after 700-710 because 7000 is more than 700.

The text ABC-D and a space should also preceed each number. Can you please
assist? Thanks.