You cannot use Visual Basic for Applications to override the AutoFilter feature sort options in Excel 2003

In Microsoft Office Excel 2003, you cannot use Microsoft Visual Basic for Applications (VBA) to override the Sort Ascending sort option and the Sort Descending sort option in the AutoFilter feature drop-down list.

This problem occurs because VBA cannot override the Excel 2003 Sort Ascending and Sort Descending sort options in the AutoFilter drop-down list.

This problem was first fixed in a hotfix that is now contained in a service pack. If you installed the latest Office 2003 service pack, you do not have to install the hotfix.

Service pack information

This problem is corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 2.

To resolve this problem, obtain the latest service pack for Office 2003. For more information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

After you install the service pack, follow the steps that are listed in the "More Information" section of the article to set the DisableAutoFilterSort registry key and to activate the hotfix.

Hotfix information

How to obtain the hotfix

This issue is fixed in the Microsoft Office Excel 2003 Hotfix Package that is dated September 2, 2004. For additional information, click the following article number to view the article in the Microsoft Knowledge Base:

After you install this hotfix, follow the steps that are listed in the "More Information" section of the article to set the DisableAutoFilterSort registry key and to activate the hotfix.

Microsoft has confirmed that this is a problem in the Microsoft products that are listed in the "Applies to" section. This problem was first corrected in Office 2003 Service Pack 2.

This hotfix adds a registry entry that you can use to disable the Sort Ascending and Sort Descending sort options in the AutoFilter feature drop-down list. After you enable the registry entry, the Sort Ascending sort option and the Sort Descending sort option are unavailable and appear dimmed in the AutoFilter drop-down list. If you click the items, Excel 2003 does nothing. To enable this hotfix, follow these steps.

Warning If you use Registry Editor incorrectly, you may cause serious problems that may require you to reinstall your operating system. Microsoft cannot guarantee that you can solve problems that result from using Registry Editor incorrectly. Use Registry Editor at your own risk.

1. Quit Excel 2003.
2. Click Start, click Run, type regedit, and then click OK.
3. Locate and then click the following registry subkey:
   HKEY_CURRENT_USER\Software\Microsoft\Office\11.0\Excel\Options
4. On the Edit menu, point to New, and then click DWORD Value.
5. Type DisableAutoFilterSort, and then press ENTER.
6. Right-click the DisableAutoFilterSort entry, and then click Modify.
7. In the Value data box, type 1 to disable the Sort Ascending sort option and the Sort Descending sort option, and then click OK.
   
   Note To enable the Sort Ascending sort option and the Sort Descending sort option, set the value to 0.
8. On the File menu, click Exit to quit Registry Editor.

After you set the value of the DisableAutoFilterSort registry entry to 1, the Sort Ascending sort option and the Sort Descending sort option are unavailable and appear dimmed when you click the drop-down arrow. In other words, if you select the data that you want to sort, point to Filter on the Data menu, and then click AutoFilter, the sort options are unavailable.