Error message when you sort a range that contains merged cells in Excel (813974)

SYMPTOMS

When you try to sort a range in a Microsoft Excel worksheet, Excel does not sort the range, and you may receive the following error message:

This operation requires the merged cells to be identically sized.

CAUSE

This issue may occur if you sort a range of cells and the following conditions are true:

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

WORKAROUND

To work around this issue, split all the merged cells in the range, or merge all the cells in the range so 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

To see an example of this issue, follow these steps:

In a worksheet, type the following data:

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

Merge cells A1 and B1, A2 and B2, and A3 and B3. To do so, follow these steps:
1. Select each pair of cells.
2. On the Format menu, click Cells.
3. Click the Alignment tab, and then click to select the Merge cells check box.
4. Click OK.
  
  Do not merge cells in column C.
Select cells A1:C3, click Sort on the Data menu, and then click OK.
In the Sort box, click OK.

You receive the error message that is described in the "Symptoms" section of this article.

For a Macintosh version of this article, see the following Microsoft Knowledge Base article:

178966 Error when sorting a range containing merged cells in Excel for Mac