I often find myself wanting to sort just few lines in a sheet, but every time I do this Calc asks if I want to extend the selection to nearby data.
I have quite often pressed the yes option and thus sorted the wrong thing and cannot recall ever wanting to extend the data.
Is there a way to stop the prompt and just use the current selection?
No. If there is contiguous neighbouring data then Calc will prompt for the decision.
Alright, thank you, Good to know.
I really hate how modern software has all these idiotic "smart" functions that just make them harder to use.It’s not idiotic, it’s there to prevent users from shooting themselves in their feet, as most times it’s not just a subset of a contiguous range to be sorted and people erred.
Separate your sortable ranges by empty rows and columns.
Interesting. Please could you give an example. I don’t remember there being any proposals to expand the sorting range.
LO 7.5.7.1 Win 10
Update. Got it. 
We are talking about sorting the data of a range that has one column and several rows.
Separate your sortable ranges by empty rows and columns.
Having to do:
Go to start
insert row
go to end
insert row
Select range
sort
go to end
delete row
go to begining
delete row
Is just way too annoying to do…
It’s not idiotic, it’s there to prevent users from shooting themselves in their feet, as most times it’s not just a subset of a contiguous range to be sorted and people erred
Any “smart feature” that constantly guesses wrong what a user wants and cannot be turned off is just a deliberate annoyance. Even though the actual functionality might be usefor for many people, having it pop up for people who do not need it and making it impossible for those people to turn off the ennouance is just bad design.
You’ve got to insert rows and columns only once.
Then you can select any single cell in the column to be sorted and sort that column with a quick-sort button [A-Z] or [Z-A].
Method #2:
Select the range in question
menu:Data>Define…
Give a name
Click any cell in the column to be sorted and use quick sort buttons or the sort dialog.
99198.ods (27.7 KB)
I also remember the prompt for range expansion as an annoyance. And I even once wrote user code to avoid it.
But, of course, I don’t remember the exact steps I had gone in every case.
Now I tested again with V7.6.3.2 and didn’t get that “clever issue”.
I had not cancelled any such prompt in advance.
But testing some older (portable) versions, among them even 3.3.0 (legacy), I also didn’t get a prompt for expansion. Did I dream? The result was the same if I created a new spreadsheet with a different version and only pasted in the data.
Can somebody help me wake up.
dataSortCalcV7_6_3_2_IsThisABenevolentBug_QM.ods (155.1 KB)
You’ve got to insert rows and columns only once.
The data is every time new so I would need to do it every time I get the data for all the sub sections.
The data is kind of messy with sub headings and markers mixed in and I need to look at values under those sub headings and then I want to see similar value near that value in the same subheading.
Basically if i find a “538” that has intresting further info I would want to see all the numbers that are almost “538” to see if they are interesting too, but only under that subheading or marker. (538 is just example placeholder as the correct data is pretty complex)
So I have sorted the relevant area to see what is near. But as said I fail every now and then as I accidentally press the expand button.
I guess I could make a macro that extracted the region to a new sheet or just splits it before I start working on it, but working with dozens of sheets would get annoying.
I had the same feeling at some point yesterday.
This “intrusive” service offer only occurs when you select a range that consists of one column and several rows for sorting. In my practice this is extremely rare.
Oh my …
So is it in mine.
Thanks!
So, why not when data in two columns are selected?
What do you (all) think about a “Do not remember me about that” like when pasting data in a cell already occupied?
It is worth of an enhancement request?
In my opinion, the UI settings could have the following options:
Because it is assumed to be on purpose?
Sure, probably.
Use Python and Pandas. Before you say this suggestion is far-fetched, see that my experience is unique. In few years, since the “extend selection” has started appearing, do you know how many times it has helped me? 0 (zero). In all the case if I ever extended the selection, I would have shot myself badly in the foot. It can not be a smart feature because it is unable to stop itself by detecting that it is being consistently suppressed. At it never gets tired stunning me by blocking my way.