When you have a lot of different rows your spreadsheet, you may want to sort
the data so you can view it more easily. Sorting can reorder things
alphabetically, numerically, by date, or even in a custom order that you choose
Depending on your preference, you can their sort from the Home tab, using the
using the Sort and Filter drop-down menu
or you can use the command in the Data tab.
In this example, I have a worksheet with a list of t-shirt orders and I'd like
to sort them alphabetically by last name.
Just click any cell in the column you want to sort by, and then click the
Ascending command that's the one that says A-Z.
You'll notice that when we sort one column, Excel also reorders the other
columns so that each row still has the correct information.
If we wanted these in reverse order we can click the Descending command,
that's the one that says Z-A.
Now this method doesn't always work if your spreadsheet has an unusual layout.
What what happens when I try to sort the data here on the right.
See how the header row is included in the sort by mistake?
In a situation like this, you might need to
manually select the cells you want instead of relying on Excel to do it for you.
This is called sorting a cell range.
Select the cell range you want to sort, including the header row if you have one,
then click the Sort command and a dialog box will appear.
First, check the box that says my data has headers. Then use the drop down menu on
the left has used the column you want to sort by. Then select a sorting order.
In this example, we will choose Largest to Smallest. When you're done click OK,
and the range will be sorted by the selected column.
Notice that the rest of the worksheet wasn't affected by our sort.
Sometimes the default sorting options won't work for what you have in mind.
For example, if we sort the columns that contain the t-shirt sizes in ascending order,
the order will be large, medium, small, then extra large, because the column is
being sorted alphabetically. You know, it would bebetter if the sizes were listed in a
more logical order; in other words, small medium, large, and extra large.
For this, we will need to create custom sort.
To begin, click the Sort command and on the right you can see that it's ordering
the column from A-Z. If we click the drop down menu and select Custom List,
we can enter the t-shirt sizes in the order we want.
So I'll click in the box and start typing: small, medium, large, and x-large, and
I'm pressing Enter after each one.
And when you're done with your list, click the Add button
and make sure the list is selected over here on the left, then click OK to confirm
and OK again.
and now the worksheet is sort of the way we want
The only problem with this is that every other column is completely out of order.
What I would really like is if the homeroom numbers were organized within
each t-shirt size.
I can do this by sorting by multiple levels. This will let us sort first by
t-shirt size and then by homeroom.
Click the Sort command and you'll notice the different options at the top of the
dialog box. You can add a level to the sort, delete a level, or even use the arrows to
change the level order.
In this example we want to add a level.
Now we just have to select the Homeroom column and we'll leave the other two fields the way they are
sorting the values from smallest to largest; And when you click
OK, you'll see that within each t-shirt size, the homeroom numbers are listed in numerical order.
As you can see, there are a lot of different ways of sorting your data,
depending on how you organize it. So take some time to experiment with the
different options and find the ones that best suit your needs.