I know this has been queried before but unfortunately, I cannot locate it. Our office deals with medical records numbers and we often have need to sort them numerically. An example of these numbers would be 09275361. The sort required for this would need to first,consider the last two numbers (61) then the 5th and 6th numbers (53) then the 3rd and 4th number (27) and finally the 1st and 2nd numbers (09). The first digit (0) requires that the field be formatted as text as it essential that it be shown in the final result. As speed is of the essence when this sorting needs to be done, I am looking for the easiest way to enter this into a spreadsheet (if possible) without using a helper column, which I would assume would require manual entry.

You're probably going to have to use helper columns to use the sort
command.
This is pretty easy and does not take much effort beyond copying the
formulas down the sheet:
If your # is in A1 the formulas would be:
=right(A1,2) [get the 2 characters on the right of the value]
=mid(A1,5,2) [get the 2 characters starting from the 5th position]
=mid(A1,3,2) [get the 2 characters starting from the 3rd position]
=left(A1,2) [get the first 2 characters from the left of the value]


On Apr 9, 1:41*pm, Gerry St wrote:
I know this has been queried before but unfortunately, I cannot locate
it. Our office deals with medical records numbers and we often have
need to sort them numerically. An example of these numbers would be
09275361. The sort required for this would need to first,consider the
last two numbers (61) then the 5th and 6th numbers (53) then the 3rd
and 4th number (27) and finally the 1st and 2nd numbers (09). The first
digit (0) requires that the field be formatted as text as it essential
that it be shown in the final result. As speed is of the essence when
this sorting needs to be done, I am looking for the easiest way to
enter this into a spreadsheet (if possible) without using a helper
column, which I would assume would require manual entry.

--
Gerry St

Amish, I thank you for your quick reply and solution. I greatly appreciate it.
Gerry St

A helper column doesn't need manual entry. You just create one formula and
copy it down the column. For your helper column, use:

=right(a1,2)&mid(a1,5,2)&mid(a1,3,2)&left(a1,2)

Regards,
Fred

"Gerry St" wrote in message
...

I know this has been queried before but unfortunately, I cannot locate
it. Our office deals with medical records numbers and we often have
need to sort them numerically. An example of these numbers would be
09275361. The sort required for this would need to first,consider the
last two numbers (61) then the 5th and 6th numbers (53) then the 3rd
and 4th number (27) and finally the 1st and 2nd numbers (09). The first
digit (0) requires that the field be formatted as text as it essential
that it be shown in the final result. As speed is of the essence when
this sorting needs to be done, I am looking for the easiest way to
enter this into a spreadsheet (if possible) without using a helper
column, which I would assume would require manual entry.




--
Gerry St

Fred,
Thank you for your quick reply and solution. It's amazing how simple it appears when shown in print by someone knowledgable.
Thank You,
Gerry St