Harlan,

This did not seem to work. Let me explain a little more.

I have a source data sheet named "Import".

Step1: In another sheet, I am searching column C in the source data for
items that begin with either "D/M" or "D/F" and importing them into the
current sheet in column A.

Formula in current sheet A1:A4000 is...
=IF(Import!C1="","",IF(OR(LEFT(Import!C1,3)="D/F",LEFT(Import!C1,3)="D/M"),ROW(),""))

The "C1" increments with each row all the way to "C4000"

Step2: Then in column B of the current sheet, I am removing the gaps in the
rows of column A so that all of the returns in column A start in B1.

Formula in current sheet B1:B4000 is...
=IF(ROW()COUNT(A:A),"",INDEX(Import!C:C,SMALL(A:A ,ROW())))

Step3: Then in Column C, I am doing a VLOOKUP formula that if there is a
returned value in column B of the currenst sheet (after removing the gaps) it
brings in the item description from the source data column G.

Formula in current sheet C1:C618 is...
=VLOOKUP(B1,Import!$C$1:$Z$4000,5,FALSE)

The "B1" increments with each row all the way to "B618"

Now, I would like the lookup formula above to be copied all the way down in
column C and not stop at C618, but I am afraid of the "N/A" returns messing
up the next step.

Before I get to the next step, I would also like to explain that I will have
other lookup formulas similar to the one above that will bring in other
information such as price, size, etc. into other columns.

Step4: I would now like to sort the whole sheet automatically by the
descriptions in Column C of the current sheet in ascending order. Can this
be done? I think that it may not be possible. I can't even get the Data
Sort tool to work.

Can you help?

Thanks,
Chad

"Harlan Grove" wrote:

"Max" wrote...
.. to automatically sort the items alphabetically ...

I'm not sure there's a formulas way to do an auto "full" alphabetic sort
which can emulate Excel's Data Sort functionality.
....

If the source data were in a range named rng and the topmost result
cell were E3, for ascending

E3:
=INDEX(rng,MATCH(0,COUNTIF(rng,"<"&rng),0))

E4:
=IF(COUNTIF(rng,E3)COUNTIF(E$3:E3,E3),E3,
INDEX(rng,MATCH(ROWS(E$3:E3),COUNTIF(rng,"<"&rng), 0)))

Fill E4 down as far as needed.

For descending, replace the "<" with "" in the 2nd arguments of the
COUNTIF calls in the formulas above.