Sorting data is considered to be one of the most essential components of data

analysis as it helps in organizing or arranging the data in a specified desirable

order and aids the procedure of formatting and visualizing data. You might want to
arrange a list of values alphabetically, compile a list of product values from
highest to lowest, or order rows by their corresponding icons or colors.

Sorting data in Excel helps the user to understand and visualize data more
effectively, facilitates investigation of data, aids the process of searching,
organizing and formatting data and ultimately, helps in making efficient decisions.
You can sort data by text (A to Z or Z to A), numbers (smallest to largest or
largest to smallest), and dates and times (oldest to newest and newest to oldest)
in one or more columns. You can also sort using a custom list you create (such as
A, C, and B) or by the format of cells which can be done on the basis of cell
color, font color, or cell icon.

The following article discusses the various methods and procedures of sorting data
in specified order as well as various criterions that can be applied on the process
to increase the orderly efficiency of the spreadsheet.

Sorting text in MS Excel

There might be times when values in cells are textual and need to be sorted
accordingly, in order to make the spreadsheet look orderly. The need of sorting may
also arise from the fact that it can facilitate analysis and investigation of data
as well as aid effective decision making.

The following procedure needs to be performed to sort text in Excel:

Select a cell or range of cells in the column which needs to be sorted.

Click on the Data tab available in Menu Bar, and perform a quick sort by choosing
any one of the options under the Sort & Filter group, depending upon whether you
want to sort in ascending or descending order.
The text will be sorted in the column of spreadsheet accordingly.

Note: Check that all data in the column to be sorted is stored as text. If the
column that you want to sort contains values that are numerical, you need to change
them into their corresponding text, failing to do so, the numbers would be stored
as numbers are sorted before the numbers stored as text.

To format all the selected data in a particular column as text, press Ctrl+1
simultaneously on the keyboard that will launch the Format Cells dialog, click on
the Number tab and then, under Category section, click on General, Number, or Text.

Remove any leading spaces: In some cases, when data is imported or copied from any
another application, the data values might have some leading spaces, which can
produce undesirable sorting results, when the operation is applied. Thus, all the
leading spaces need to be removed before sorting data. This can be done manually or
using TRIM function.

Sorting numbers in MS Excel

There might be times when values in cells are numerical and need to be sorted
accordingly, in order to make the spreadsheet look orderly. The need of sorting may
also arise from the fact that it can facilitate analysis and investigation of data
as well as aid effective decision making.

The following procedure needs to be performed to sort numbers in Excel:

Select a cell or range of cells in the column which needs to be sorted.

Click on the Data tab available in Menu Bar, and perform quick sort by choosing any
one of the options under the Sort & Filter group, depending upon whether you want
to sort in ascending or descending order.
The numbers will be sorted in the column of spreadsheet accordingly.

Note: Check that all the data to be sorted in the specified column contains values
that are numerical. If the result is not desired, the column might contain values
which are not numbers and are treated as text by the software. In that case, the
data needs to be changed into numbers by pressing Ctrl+1 simultaneously on the
keyboard that will launch the Format Cells dialog, clicking on the Number tab and
then, under Category section, clicking on Number. Leading spaces in the data values
imported or copied also need to be removed manually, which can be achieved manually
or by using TRIM function.

Sorting Date or Time in MS Excel

There might be times when values in cells are dates or times and need to be sorted
accordingly, in order to make the spreadsheet look orderly. The need of sorting may
also arise from the fact that it can facilitate analysis and investigation of data
as well as aid effective decision making.

The following procedure needs to be performed to sort date or time in Excel:

Select a cell in the column which needs to be sorted.

Click on the Data tab available in Menu Bar, and perform quick sort by choosing any
one of the options under the Sort & Filter group, depending upon whether you want
to sort in ascending or descending order.
The date or time in the column of the spreadsheet will be sorted accordingly.

Note: Check that all the data to be sorted in the specified column contains values
that are either date or time. If the result is not desired, the column might
contain values which are not stored as date and time but are treated as numbers or
text by the software. In that case, the data needs to be changed into the date or
time serial values. Leading spaces in the data values imported or copied also need
to be removed manually, which can be achieved manually or by using TRIM function.

If you want to sort the values in the column by days of the week, format the cells
in a manner to display the day of the week and convert them to text by using the
TEXT function and perform the sorting operation accordingly.

Sorting Multiple Rows or Columns

There might be times when the data in MS Excel needs to be sorted by performing the
operation on more than one row or column, in order to make the spreadsheet look
orderly. The need of sorting may also arise from the fact that it can facilitate
analysis and investigation of data as well as produce efficiency in the decision-
making process. This case of sorting may especially arise when the sorting in one
column (or row) may have equal values, wherein values can be textual, numerical or
date or time, such that further sorting can be applied on another column (or row),
leading to an ordered arrangement in the spreadsheet.

For example, in the spreadsheet Society Work, if the sorting is initially applied
onto the alphabetic nature of the Departments’ employees are selected for, further
sorting may be applied onto the column of Name, to make the arrangement ordered. In
order to achieve best results of sorting in a spreadsheet, the range of cells on
which sorting is applied should have column headings to make the arrangement highly
ordered which can lead to a proper analysis of data and effective decision making.

The following procedure needs to be performed to sort multiple rows or columns in

Excel:

Select any cell within the data range wherein sorting needs to be applied.
Click on the Data Tab on Menu Bar, and further click on Sort under Sort & Filter
group.
Sort dialog box opens up. Select the first column of priority which needs to be
sorted under Column, in the Sort dialog box.
Under Sort On List, select the type of sort that needs to be applied. Anyone of the
following options can be selected:
Select Values to sort by value of text, number or date and time.
Select Cell Color, Font Color or Cell Icon to sort by the format applied on the
column cells.
Under Order list, select the way of sorting. Anyone of the following options can be
selected:
For sorting text values, select A to Z or Z to A accordingly.
For sorting numerical values, select Smallest to Largest or Largest to Smallest
accordingly.
For sorting date or time values, select Oldest to Newest or Newest to Oldest
accordingly.
For sorting based on a custom list, select Custom List.
Optional: Click on Add level button in the Sort dialog box to add another column to
sort by and repeat the steps three to five to sort effectively.
Optional: Select the entry and click on Copy Level button in the Sort dialog box to
copy a column/field to sort by.
Optional: Select the entry and click on Delete Level button in the Sort dialog box
to delete a column/field to sort by.
Optional: To change the order in which the columns or fields in the spreadsheet
need to be sorted, select an entry of the Column Name and then click on the Up or
Down arrow button, next to the Options button to change the order of sorting,
provided entries higher in the list would be sorted before entries which appear
lower in the list.
Click on OK.
Sorted spreadsheet will be obtained.

Note: One entry for sorting the spreadsheet is essential in the dialog box.

Sorting by Cell Color, Font Color, or Icon in Excel

If there is a range of cells or columns which have been manually or conditionally
formatted such that they have cells containing different cell colors, font colors
or icons, they can be ordered into a specified arrangement even on the basis of
their formats such that it can it can facilitate analysis and investigation of data
as well as produce efficiency in decision making process.

The following procedure needs to be performed to sort cells by cell color, font
color or icon in Excel:

Select any cell in the column where sorting needs to be applied.

Click on the Data Tab on Menu Bar, and further click on Sort under Sort & Filter
group.
Sort dialog box opens up. Select the column which needs to be sorted under Column
list.
Under Sort On list, select Cell Color, Font Color or Cell Icon, based upon the
criterion of sorting.
Under Order list, click on the arrow of the drop-down list and then, depending on
the type of cells formats, select a cell color, font color, or cell icon, based
upon which the formatting needs to be done.
Select the order of sorting within the manner by performing the steps as desired:
To move the desired cell color, font color, or cell icon to the top or to the left,
as per the desired order requirement, select On Top option for a column sort, and
On Left option for a row sort.
To move the cell color, font color, or cell icon to the bottom or to the right, as
per the desired order requirement, select On Bottom option for a column sort, and
On Right option for a row sort.
Note: There is no default cell color, font color, or icon sort order predefined by
Excel, as there can be a large number of cell color, font color or cell icon
defined by the user. Thus, the user must explicitly define the order of sorting in
case of sorting by formatting of cells.

Optional: Select the entry and click on Copy Level button in the Sort dialog box to
copy a column/field to sort by.
Optional: Select the entry and click on Delete Level button in the Sort dialog box
to delete a column/field to sort by.
Optional: To change the order in which the columns or fields in the spreadsheet
need to be sorted, select an entry of the Column Name and then click on the Up or
Down arrow button, next to the Options button to change the order of sorting,
provided entries higher in the list would be sorted before entries which appear
lower in the list.
Click on OK.
Sorted Spreadsheet will be obtained.

Sorting using Custom List in Excel

A custom list is a dummy list defined by the user to sort the values of a list in
an arrangement or order that is user-defined. This may also be considered as a
special way of conditional formatting, wherein values contained in a custom list
are textual, based on which further sorting is performed.

For example, consider a list defined by A, B and C group of employees, wherein the
user-defined order wants to sort list A, C and B in the order of employees. This
problem is compounded by the issue of not being able to sort employees on the basis
of their alphabetical nature, as this order is neither ascending alphabet nor
descending alphabet. Creating a user defined list, also known as a custom list, is
a way to solve the problem and achieve the desired sorted spreadsheet.

The following steps need to be performed in order to create the custom list and
perform sorting:

Creation of Custom List:

Enter the values that you want to sort the values by, in the order you want them,
from top to bottom, in different cells in the range of cells.
Select the range of cells of the order in which you want to sort.
Click on File or Office Button on the top left corner of Excel Application program,
click on Excel Options at the bottom.
Excel Options dialog box opens up.
Click on Popular Tab, and click on Edit Custom Lists button under Top Options for
Working with Excel.
In the Custom Lists dialog box, click on Import list from cells to import the
values of the custom list by selecting the range of cells that decide the order and
finally, click on OK twice, to create the requisite Custom List.
Note: A custom list can be created by the user only based upon values such as text,
number and date or time, and cannot be created based on a format of cell color,
font color or cell icon. Also, the maximum length for a custom list that can be
created by the user is 255 characters and the first character of the custom list
cannot begin with a number or a special character.

2. Sorting using Custom List:

Select the cell or the range of cells in the column which needs to be sorted.
Click on the Data Tab on the Menu bar, and click on Sort under Sort & Filter
section.
The Sort dialog box opens up. Select the column that you want to sort by a custom
list under the Column list.
Under the Order list, click on Custom List.
In the Custom Lists dialog box, select the custom list that you want to use for
sorting. In the above example, the created list of value A, C, B needs to be used.
Click on OK.
Sorted Spreadsheet using Custom List would be obtained.

Advantages of Excel Sort

Produces ordered arrangement of spreadsheet.
Facilitates efficient decision making process.
Results in effective analysis and investigation of data.
Aids the process of searching, organizing and formatting data.