Hi

it can be done
i. insert a new row directly above your data
ii. number each column in the order that you want to see it in this row
e.g.
......A................B............C
1...3................2..............1
2...FName...LName........Title

iii. now click in a cell in your data range and choose data / sort
iv. click on OPTIONS button
v. choose SORT LEFT TO RIGHT
vi. click OK, the first Sort by field should now say Row 1 (or similar)
vii. click OK to sort

(of course do this on a backup of your workbook)

Hope this helps
Cheers
julieD

"PercivalMound" wrote in message
...
In Excel 2003, I have a range 50 columns wide and 600 rows tall. Row 1
has
the column headings, while Rows 2-600 contain the data pertaining to the
column heading shown in Row 1.

Now I want to sort the entire range according to the column headings, so
that Location 1, which now occupies the first 600 rows of Column M, will
end
up in Column A; Location 2, which now occupies 600 rows of Column AE, will
end up in Column B; and so on, each column carrying along with it the
cells
under that column heading.

The Data Sort menu command will sort by column, but how do I sort by
using
Row 1 as my index?

More to the point, why has Excel been designed to sort rows according to
column, but not sort columns according to row?