I'm having trouble with using the "A-Z" sort button from the toolbar. I use
these buttons all the time, and I thought that as long as I was in the column
I wanted to sort, and that the data was formatted properly (i.e., contiguous,
no blank rows/columns, no extraneous text in adjacent cells, etc.), the sort
button would work.

However, I have a file that doesn't seem to conform to that model. When I
hit the sort button, Excel selects several rows above the data set, and the
sort fails. The row above the data is clear, and when I hit
ctrl-shift-asterisk, it selects the contiguous data. Any idea why Excel
thinks it should select additional cells in this situation?

Thanks,
Todd