Module 1 · Excel that does not fall apart Lesson 1 of 15
Structure before formulas
One row per record, one header row, no merged cells and no blank rows. Merged cells and blank rows are the two things that break sorting, filtering and pivot tables at once.
Worked example
A sheet with a merged "January" banner across row 1 cannot be filtered or pivoted — the same data with a Date column works instantly.
Your practice task
Take any messy sheet you have and restructure it into a clean table, then sort and filter it successfully.
Do this before moving on. Reading a solution teaches the shape of it; typing it teaches you.
Key takeaway
One row per record, one header row, no merged cells and no blank rows. Merged cells and blank rows are the two things that break sorting, filtering and pivot tables at once.
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