The Complete Guide to Sorting Data in Excel
Sorting data is an essential task for anyone who works with data, whether it’s organizing contact lists, analyzing sales records, or sorting through financial data. Sorting data in Excel can seem daunting at first, but it’s actually a straightforward process that can save you a lot of time. This guide will walk you through how to sort data efficiently in Excel, as well as offer tips and tricks to make the process even more effective.
A Step-by-Step Guide to Sorting in Excel
To get started with sorting in Excel, you first need to select the data you want to sort. You can do this by clicking and dragging over the cells you want to sort, or by using the keyboard shortcut “Ctrl+A” to select the entire worksheet.
Once you’ve selected the data, go to the ‘Data’ tab and click on the ‘Sort’ button. This will open the ‘Sort’ dialog box, which allows you to choose your sorting options.
There are two main categories of sorting options you can choose from: ‘Sort Left to Right’, which sorts columns based on the values in the leftmost column, and ‘Sort Top to Bottom’, which sorts rows based on the values in the top row.
After choosing your sorting option, you can specify the column or row you want to sort by. You can also add additional sorting levels to sort by multiple columns or rows at once.
Finally, you can choose whether to sort by values, cell color, font color, or cell icon. You can also choose whether to sort in ascending or descending order.
With these basic steps in mind, let’s go through the process of sorting data in Excel, step by step.
Step 1: Select the data you want to sort
For this example, let’s say you have a list of products and their sales figures. To sort the data by sales, select the entire range of cells containing the product and sales data.
Step 2: Access the ‘Sort’ function
With the range of cells selected, go to the ‘Data’ tab and click the ‘Sort’ button. This will bring up the ‘Sort’ dialog box.
Step 3: Choose the column to sort by
Under ‘Column’, select the column you want to sort by. In this case, we want to sort the data by sales, so we’ll select the ‘Sales’ column. We also want to sort in descending order, so we’ll select ‘Z-A’ under ‘Order’.
Step 4: Apply the sort
Click the ‘OK’ button to apply the sort. Your data is now sorted by sales, in descending order.
These steps are straightforward and should be sufficient for most basic sorting tasks. However, sorting in Excel offers much more than this simple approach.
Sorting in Excel: Tips and Tricks
Sorting data in Excel is a routine task, but there are some tips and tricks that can make the process faster and more efficient.
Use keyboard shortcuts
If you frequently sort data in Excel, keyboard shortcuts can save you a lot of time. For example, instead of clicking the ‘Sort’ button, you can use the keyboard shortcut ‘Alt+A+S’, which will open the ‘Sort’ dialog box directly.
Other useful keyboard shortcuts include:
- ‘Ctrl+Shift+L’ to apply filters
- ‘Alt+A+C’ to clear filters
- ‘Alt+A+O+C’ to sort data by cell color
- ‘Alt+A+O+W’ to sort data by font color
- ‘Alt+A+O+E’ to sort data by cell icon
Create custom sorting rules
Excel allows you to create custom sorting rules that let you sort data in a more specific way. For example, you can sort a list of names by last name, or sort a list of dates by month.
To create a custom sorting rule, click the ‘Options’ button in the ‘Sort’ dialog box. This will open the ‘Sort Options’ dialog box, where you can set up your custom sorting rule. For example, to sort a list of names by last name, you would select ‘Sort by’ -> ‘Last Name’ -> ‘Ascending’.
Avoid common mistakes when sorting data
Sorting data can sometimes produce unexpected results. Here are some common mistakes to avoid:
- Make sure your data doesn’t contain merged cells. Merged cells can cause problems when sorting, so it’s best to avoid them.
- Check that your data is properly formatted. For example, if you’re sorting dates, make sure they’re all in the same format.
- Be careful when sorting text that contains numbers. Excel may sort this type of data incorrectly.
By following these tips and tricks, you can make the sorting process in Excel faster and more efficient.
Understanding Excel’s Sorting Options
Excel offers a variety of sorting options that can help you sort data in a more specific way. Here are some of the most useful sorting options:
Sort by values
‘Sort by values’ is the most common sorting option in Excel. This option sorts data based on the numerical or alphabetical value of each cell.
Sort by cell color, font color, or cell icon
These sorting options allow you to sort data based on the visual characteristics of each cell. For example, you can sort data by the color of the cells, the color of the font, or the presence of a particular icon in the cell.
Custom sorting lists
Custom sorting lists allow you to sort data in a specific order that you define. For example, you can sort a list of names by last name, or sort a list of months in the order that they appear in the year.
Sort by formatting
This option allows you to sort data based on the formatting you’ve applied to it. For example, you can sort data that’s been highlighted with a particular formatting style.
You can access all these sorting options by clicking the ‘Options’ button in the ‘Sort’ dialog box.
How to Sort Multiple Columns in Excel
If you need to sort data by multiple columns, Excel makes it easy to do so. Here’s how:
Step 1: Select the data you want to sort
For this example, let’s say you have a list of products and their sales figures for the first and second quarters:
Step 2: Access the ‘Sort’ function
With the range of cells selected, go to the ‘Data’ tab and click the ‘Sort’ button. This will bring up the ‘Sort’ dialog box.
Step 3: Add a sorting level for each column
To sort by multiple columns, you need to add a sorting level for each column you want to sort by. You can do this by clicking the ‘Add Level’ button.
For this example, we want to sort first by product and then by sales. So we’ll add a sorting level for the ‘Product’ column and change the sorting order to ‘A-Z’. Then we’ll add a second sorting level for the ‘Q2 Sales’ column and change the sorting order to ‘Z-A’.
Step 4: Apply the sort
Click the ‘OK’ button to apply the sort. Your data is now sorted by product and then by Q2 sales, in the order you specified.
Keep in mind that when you sort by multiple columns, Excel sorts the columns in the order you specify. So if you want to sort by sales first and then by product, you need to add the sorting level for sales before the sorting level for the product.
Sorting Data in Excel for Analysis
Sorting data is an essential step in analyzing data in Excel. Sorting data can help you identify trends, outliers, duplicates, and other important insights.
For example, let’s say you have a table of sales data for a particular year:
By sorting the data in descending order of sales, you can quickly identify the top-selling products:
You can also sort data in ascending order to identify the lowest-selling products. Alternatively, you can sort data based on other criteria, such as profit margin or sales growth.
Sorting data is also useful for identifying outliers. By sorting data in ascending or descending order, you can easily spot any values that stand out as unusually high or low.
Using Excel’s Advanced Sorting Features
Excel offers a range of advanced sorting features that can help you work with large data sets more efficiently.
Filters
Filters allow you to quickly sort data based on certain criteria. For example, you can filter a list of products to show only those made by a particular manufacturer.
To apply a filter, click the ‘Filter’ button in the ‘Data’ tab. This will bring up a drop-down menu that lets you select the criteria you want to filter by.
PivotTables
PivotTables are a powerful tool for analyzing large data sets. PivotTables allow you to quickly summarize and sort data in a variety of ways.
To create a PivotTable, select the data you want to analyze and click the ‘PivotTable’ button in the ‘Insert’ tab. This will open the ‘Create PivotTable’ dialog box, where you can set up your PivotTable.
Shared Sorting
If you’re working on a shared workbook, Excel allows you to sort data in a shared state. This means that everyone who has the workbook open can see the same sorting order.
To sort data in a shared state, go to the ‘Review’ tab and click the ‘Allow Editing’ button. Then click the ‘Sort’ button and choose your sorting options. Everyone who has the workbook open will be able to see the same sorting order.
Conclusion
Sorting data in Excel is a routine task that can be made faster and more efficient with these tips and tricks. Excel offers a variety of sorting options and advanced features that can help you sort data in a more specific way and work with large data sets more efficiently. By experimenting with different sorting options and features, you can find the approach that works best for your needs and make sorting data a breeze.
