Maintaining cell reference after sorting

D

Deets LaMoss

Is there a way to maintain a cell reference after sorting a table? I want to
identify the row number of a specific cell after sorting. I have tried using
"Insert>Name" with both absolute and relative addresses. Neither one gives
me what I need. I am literate in VB if I need to write a macro.

Thanks in advance.
 
D

Deets LaMoss

If I name a cell in this manner the "Refers to:" under "Insert>Name>Define"
is "=Sheet1!$A$17". When I sort, the reference remains this, but the cell I
am interested in is now in a different spot on the sheet , for instance
"A29". If I change the "Referes to:" a relative reference "=Sheet1!A17" I get
the same behavior.
 
F

Frank Kabel

Hi
you can't. A link is referring to the cell and not to the content. So
sorting does NOT change the reference. Maybe you could add a unique ID to
each row/record and use VLOOKUP to get the correct record/value
 
G

GRITS

Hi Deets LaMoss

I'm having similiar difficulty. Relative cell reference act like an absolute
reference. When the precedent worksheet is sorted the decendant worksheet
reflects the cell reference prior to the sort. My experience has been that by
using relative reference formats =A1 the cell reference would change with a
sort in the precedent worksheet, always giving the same result in the
decendant worksheet. Using absolute reference would force the data to always
reflect what was in the cell referenced. If 10 was in cell A1 and a sort
moved it to A99, the number 10 would still be reported in the linked cell.
Using absolute reference =$A$1, the sort would report whatever data was moved
into the =$A$1 cell. Never had this happen before and have yet to resolve.
i'm wondering if there is a global setting that lock the spreedsheet or if
various format setting cause this problem.
 
F

Frank Kabel

Hi
in this case it does not matter whether you use a relative or absolute
reference. Sorting will not change the reference in either case.
 
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