Lesson 19: Sorting Data/en/excel/freezing-panes-and-view-options/content/ IntroductionAs you add more content to a worksheet, organizing this information becomes especially important. You can quickly reorganize a worksheet by sorting your data. For example, you can organize a list of contact information by last name. Content can be sorted alphabetically, numerically, and in several other ways. Optional: Download our practice workbook. Watch the video below to learn more about sorting data in Excel. Types of sortingWhen sorting data, it's important to first decide if you want the sort to apply to the entire worksheet or just a cell range.
To sort a sheet:In our example, we'll sort a T-shirt order form alphabetically by Last Name (column C).
To sort a range:In our example, we'll select a separate table in our T-shirt order form to sort the number of shirts that were ordered in each grade.
If your data isn't sorting properly, double-check your cell values to make sure they are entered into the worksheet correctly. Even a small typo could cause problems when sorting a large worksheet. In the example below, we forgot to include a hyphen in cell
A18, causing our sort to be slightly inaccurate. Custom sortingSometimes you may find that the default sorting options can't sort data in the order you need. Fortunately, Excel allows you to create a custom list to define your own sorting order. To create a custom sort:In our example, we want to sort the worksheet by T-Shirt Size (column D). A regular sort would organize the sizes alphabetically, which would be incorrect. Instead, we'll create a custom list to sort from smallest to largest.
Sorting levelsIf you need more control over how your data is sorted, you can add multiple levels to any sort. This allows you to sort your data by more than one column. To add a level:In our example below, we'll sort the worksheet by T-Shirt Size (Column D), then by Homeroom # (column A).
If you need to change the order of a multilevel sort, it's easy to control which column is sorted first. Simply select the desired column, then click the Move Up or Move Down arrow to adjust its priority. Challenge!
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