KB178966 - Error when sorting a range containing merged cells in Excel for Mac

Article ID: 178966

Article Last Modified on 1/22/2007

APPLIES TO

Microsoft Excel 2004 for Mac
Microsoft Excel 2001 for Mac
Microsoft Excel 98 for Macintosh

This article was previously published under Q178966

For a Microsoft Windows version of this article, see 813974.

SYMPTOMS

When you attempt to sort a range on a worksheet, you may receive the following message

This operation requires the merged cells to be identically sized.

and Microsoft Excel does not sort the range.

CAUSE

This behavior may occur when you sort a range of cells when the following conditions are true:

You previously merged some, but not all, cells in the sort range. -or-
You previously merged all cells in the sort range, and the cells are not all the same size.

WORKAROUND

To work around this behavior, either unmerge all the merged cells in the range, or merge all the cells in the range such that the merged cells are the same size. Each merged cell in the range must occupy the same number of rows and columns as the other merged cells in the range.

MORE INFORMATION

The following example demonstrates the problem:

In a worksheet, type the following data:

      A1:     B1:  Name      C1: Value
      A2:     B2:  Tom       C2: 1
      A3:     B3:  Sue       C3: 2

Merge cells A1 and B1, A2 and B2, and A3 and B3. To do this, select each pair of cells, click Cells on the Format menu, click the Alignment tab, click to select the Merge cells check box, and click OK.

Do not merge cells in column C.
Select cells A1:C3, click Sort on the Data menu, and click OK.

Additional query words: XL98

Keywords: kbfaq kbprb KB178966