Josiah knows that formatting changes to the first row of a list automatically clues Excel to the fact that the row is a header row so it won't be included in sorting. He wonders, though, what exactly Excel looks for when it determines that the first row of data is a header row. For example, just making the first row bold does not seem to be enough, so he wonders what it really takes.
Microsoft has not published the algorithm it uses to make this determination, but one can intuit the formatting differences that are necessary. A good indicator seems to be if the data in the first row is different than the data in subsequent rows. For instance, if a column contains dates, times, or numbers (and are formatted as dates, times, or numeric formats), but the first cell in the column contains text (and aren't formatted as a date, time, or number), then Excel can hazard a guess that the first row contains headers.
Another flag for Excel seems to be if your header row has borders turned on, whereas the rest of your cells do not. (I make it a point to always make the first row bold with a bottom border, and this seems to do the trick every time.)
You should note, however, that Excel doesn't do well with multi-row headers or blank cells in a single-row header. It only really recognizes, automatically, a single header row. If you have a multi-row header, select the data you want sorted before you sort it. If your header row contains blank cells, then Excel (for some reason) interprets the row as part of your data. Again, you'll want to select the actual rows to be sorted before actually sorting.
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2016-01-05 11:29:12
Gary Lundblad
I seem to have problems if I delete columns, although not always. Usually I sort a range of data, and it recognizes the header rows correctly, but then I delete a column, select the same range, select sort, and it no longer recognizes the header row. What happened, and how can I get it to recognize it again?
I have tried making the text bold, italics, underlined, shaded, with a bottom border, and it still doesn't see it. Help!
Thank you!
Gary
2015-12-29 12:13:03
Neil
Often when I try to apply auto-filtering to a table with multiple headers by clicking a single cell in the table and choosing filter, it erroneously chooses the wrong headers. I get around this by selecting just the data I want to filter (including the desired header row) and then it knows which headers get the filter dropdowns.
2015-12-29 08:03:47
Barry Clermont
Great tip. I would suggest making sure you use a single row if you ever want to apply a pivot table or pull into Access.
2013-06-17 09:29:07
David Staudenmeir
I've personally never found the "my data contains headers" box unchecked by default, and so have never had to apply any kind of first row formatting, other than what I might normally do anyway, with the thought of applying that just to trigger the "header row" criteria.
2013-06-16 09:04:12
Tony
For me, the box always comes up so I simply confirm that "Yes, my data contains header rows".
2013-06-15 12:51:50
Jerry
Some of the dialog boxes for commands that operate on data ranges (such as Sort and Create Table) have a "My data contains headers" checkbox that you can turn on if Excel doesn't recognize the header row. But it's better to apply the formatting, as discussed in the tip, so you never have to remember to check the box!
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