On Tue, 15 Dec 2009 13:03:02 -0800, Pablo
wrote:

I need to sort text strings the may begin with "A" or "The". In these cases I
would like for the sort to ignore the "A" or "The" and sort based off the
second item in the string. Can you set preconditions to the sort?

Example:
The Big Blue Boat
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn
Giant
Four Score is Twenty Times Four


Results:
The Big Blue Boat
Four Score is Twenty Times Four
Giant
A Tree Grows in Brooklyn

Set up a "helper column" and sort on that. The helper column will exclude "the
" or "a " if they start the text string.

If your list starts in A1, then:

B1:
=IF(MIN(SEARCH({"the ","a "},A1&"the a "))=1,
MID(A1,FIND(" ",A1)+1,99),A1)

and fill down as far as required.
--ron