I am using Excel 2003 under Windows XP Professional SP3 (as I recall it).

I am a writer, and I use a spreadsheet to sort material for books, using
three columns, ch, pt and no, (chapter part and number). Every so often, out
of the blue, Excel forgets the standard three-part search and defaults to not
using a header row. Once or twice it has come back, but not usually.

Sometimes, I can paste all of the data into a fresh worksheet and get the
search running again, but sooner or later, it breaks down again.

Can anybody tell me what I must have done to cause this, or better still,
how to fix it?

If my methodology sounds odd, keep in mind that I typically write historical
stuff and usually have a dozen columns, and 2000+ rows. At times, I may sort
by date, location, accession number or other headings, and using the sort
function as I do allows me to insert extra data, quotes and other stuff--and
get my original order back again. And I'm getting too set in my ways to
change, OK?

Make sure the header row has a different format vs. the data...
Bold font and a larger font size should work. (assumes data does not have bold font)
Don't leave a blank row between the data and the header.
Insert a blank row above the header.
If all else fails click the "Header Row" option button in the Sort box.

And you don't have to start over, just select all of the data before displaying the sort box.
--
Jim Cone
Portland, Oregon USA
( Special Sort... http://www.contextures.com/excel-sort-addin.html )




"peter-macinnis"
wrote in message ...
I am using Excel 2003 under Windows XP Professional SP3 (as I recall it).

I am a writer, and I use a spreadsheet to sort material for books, using
three columns, ch, pt and no, (chapter part and number). Every so often, out
of the blue, Excel forgets the standard three-part search and defaults to not
using a header row. Once or twice it has come back, but not usually.

Sometimes, I can paste all of the data into a fresh worksheet and get the
search running again, but sooner or later, it breaks down again.

Can anybody tell me what I must have done to cause this, or better still,
how to fix it?

If my methodology sounds odd, keep in mind that I typically write historical
stuff and usually have a dozen columns, and 2000+ rows. At times, I may sort
by date, location, accession number or other headings, and using the sort
function as I do allows me to insert extra data, quotes and other stuff--and
get my original order back again. And I'm getting too set in my ways to
change, OK?