After all the ranting you get to the part where you have your functions
mixed up.

in Excel 2003, I could easily do
this by selecting data validation and "list," it would generate a drop-down
of items below, with the options in the drop-down being "sort ascending, sort
descending, top 10, custom, x, y, z, etc, etc, etc"


You are describing DataFilterAutofilter.

NOT a Data Validation dropdown list.

2007 has exactly the same function.

Look under Data Tab and hit "Filter"

As far as Help goes, do you not see the question mark(?) in the blue circle
at top right of Ribbon?


Gord Dibben MS Excel MVP

On Fri, 2 Apr 2010 09:13:01 -0700, Bermie
wrote: