Sorting issue

[Neets]

Hi, I have a group of numbers that all begin with the letter "U". I'm trying to get them to sort ascending. I've tried formatting as: Text, General & Number (zero decimal) to no avail.

Data example:
U100521
U100634
U4083
U4129
U5201

So it sorts alpha by first digit, but not by whole number. If I text to column & remove "U", it works fine but that is not feasible.

Any help would be appreciated!

 

[jberwald]

The only thing that I can think of is: in a column that you are not using type in all your numbers to a 7 digit format
U100521 stays the same
U100634 stays the same
U4083 becomes U004083
U4129 becomes U004129
U5201 becomes U005201

Now sort by this column.

 

[Neets]

Thanks, that crossed my mind but I almost think if I just have a column off to the end that text to columns out the "U" I might be better off! I appreciate your input!