What is this box around some of my cells?

External Since: Dec 27, 2004 Posts: 3

I've been entering text data into an excel spreadsheet. When I started
it, there were a dozen rows. I've added many more. But there's a
visible border around the original dozen rows. More importantly, when
I go to sort the data, only the data within the border (the first dozen
rows) sorts - the rest is ignored, even though I have the entire
spreadsheet selected.

Obviouly, I somehow got the first dozen rows designated as some special
status, but I'll be danged if I can figure out how I did that, and how
to undo it.

Sound familiar?

I'd like to remove whatever this special designation is, and just treat
the whole spreadsheet the same. I figure this is probably a simple
control, but I've searched high and low and haven't been able to find
the right button to push - I've never been able to fathom how Excel
thinks.

Any ideas? Your help is appreciated.

Excel 2004, Mac OS X 10.3.7

External Since: Mar 07, 2004 Posts: 3828

In article <190120052110268225%noname@noplace.com>,
zingzang <noname.RemoveThis@noplace.com> wrote:

> I've been entering text data into an excel spreadsheet. When I started
> it, there were a dozen rows. I've added many more. But there's a
> visible border around the original dozen rows. More importantly, when
> I go to sort the data, only the data within the border (the first dozen
> rows) sorts - the rest is ignored, even though I have the entire
> spreadsheet selected.
>
> Obviouly, I somehow got the first dozen rows designated as some special
> status, but I'll be danged if I can figure out how I did that, and how
> to undo it.
>
> Sound familiar?
>
> I'd like to remove whatever this special designation is, and just treat
> the whole spreadsheet the same. I figure this is probably a simple
> control, but I've searched high and low and haven't been able to find
> the right button to push - I've never been able to fathom how Excel
> thinks.

Sounds like you may have inserted a list using the List Manager. Try
Ctrl-clicking within the borders. If an option to Remove List Manager
appears, choose it.

See Help for more on Lists. They can be extremely useful. They can also
get in the way of doing real work. Depends on the situation