if you want the spaces to show back up, your best bet would be to add a
column and fill it with sequencial numbers. Then sort on this column when
you want things to go back to what they were originally.

the 800 before 88
these are probably text values, even though they look like numbers.
depending on whether there could be spaces or non print characters in the
cell you can convert them to numbers
enter 1 in an empty cell copy it.
select all of the cells with potencial text looking like numbers and paste
special multiply.
if you are lucky they will now be numbers
if they dont work, you may have to use a helper column with
=value(trim(clean(A1)))
there can still be charaters such as char(160),char(10), etc that will have
ot be removed

"Dave86" wrote:

It's not complicated at all, just imperative that the row data does not move.
I also notice if I put spaces into the file, when I sort, it takes the
spaces out.
I have another question, too....about sorting preferences.
One of my columns sorts the numbers so that 800 comes before 88..
Where's that fix?
You can email me personally..

Thanks, again, Dave

"bj" wrote:

the simple answer is to select all before you sort.
there are other things you can do such as writing a macro to ensure you
select all before sort
you can use auto filter sort and all will be sorted.
the only question is how complex do you need to be

"Dave86" wrote:

We have a spreadsheet with approx. 3000 rows and 9 columns.

We want to sort the data so that the "row data" always stays in tact.
And then go back to when column "A" is back in alphabetical order, again.

EXAMPLE: If we want to sort for a certain gearbox or coupling.
We want ALL the date in each row kept in tact, so we can see what jobs use
the same gearbox or coupling, when sorted.
You can email me if you want..
I can send a copy of the spreadsheet if you like, or helpful.
Thanks,
Dave Clemens