An If/Then Sort?

Recently converted all data from an old program to Excel list of ex-students
for a reunion. New request is to sort by Maiden name for the women, and Last
Name for the men for the book. First sort - YearGrad; Second Sort - either
maiden or last name. Can I somehow say sort by maiden unless blank, then sort
by last name?
--
Working Mom (redundant wording)

I'd add another column--call it "name to Sort"

then use a formula to fill it:

=if(c2<>"",c2,d2)

Where C2 held the maiden name and D2 held the current last name.



mcsmith1x wrote:
>
> Recently converted all data from an old program to Excel list of ex-students
> for a reunion. New request is to sort by Maiden name for the women, and Last
> Name for the men for the book. First sort - YearGrad; Second Sort - either
> maiden or last name. Can I somehow say sort by maiden unless blank, then sort
> by last name?
> --
> Working Mom (redundant wording)

--

Dave Peterson

Awesome! It works!
--
Working Mom (redundant wording)


"Dave Peterson" wrote:

> I'd add another column--call it "name to Sort"
>
> then use a formula to fill it:
>
> =if(c2<>"",c2,d2)
>
> Where C2 held the maiden name and D2 held the current last name.
>
>
>
> mcsmith1x wrote:
> >
> > Recently converted all data from an old program to Excel list of ex-students
> > for a reunion. New request is to sort by Maiden name for the women, and Last
> > Name for the men for the book. First sort - YearGrad; Second Sort - either
> > maiden or last name. Can I somehow say sort by maiden unless blank, then sort
> > by last name?
> > --
> > Working Mom (redundant wording)
>
> --
>
> Dave Peterson
>

You could add an extra column for sorting, say SortName with a formula:

=IF(MaidenName="",Surname,MaidenName)

Hope this helps

"mcsmith1x" wrote:

> Recently converted all data from an old program to Excel list of ex-students
> for a reunion. New request is to sort by Maiden name for the women, and Last
> Name for the men for the book. First sort - YearGrad; Second Sort - either
> maiden or last name. Can I somehow say sort by maiden unless blank, then sort
> by last name?
> --
> Working Mom (redundant wording)