Contents
The Excel 2007 Interface
Keyboard Shortcuts in Excel 2007
How to Create New Spreadsheets and Open Existing Spreadsheets
How to Save and Close an Excel Spreadsheet
How to Navigate an Excel 2007 Spreadsheet
Basic Cell Operations in Excel
Excel Formulas and Functions
How to Use Excel’s Fill Feature
How to Sort Data in Excel
How to Format Cells in Excel
How to Format Excel Spreadsheets
How to Add Charts or Graphics to Excel Spreadsheets
How to Print Excel Spreadsheets
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How to Sort Data in Excel
You can sort the data in your spreadsheet columns numerically or alphabetically based on the data in one or more of those columns. For instance, if you’ve created a spreadsheet that records employees’ last names, salaries, and start dates, you could then sort all of those columns based on the data in one or more of the columns. In other words, you could sort the data alphabetically by last name, in order of seniority, or from highest-to-lowest salary.
How to Sort By One Column
Sort a spreadsheet of data according to the data in one column by doing the following:
- Select all of the data on the spreadsheet.
- Go to Home > Editing, and click Sort & Filter
. In the menu that appears, select Custom Sort. - The Sort dialog box will open.
- In the Sort By drop-down menu, choose the column by which you want to sort the data. If you’ve written a descriptive header at the top of your column of data, make sure that the My Data Has Headers check box at the top right of the window is checked and select the column based on its header. If your columns don’t have headers, make sure the check box is unchecked and select the column based on its letter label.
- The Sort On drop-down menu lets you specify the information you’d like to use from the column as the basis for sorting. The drop-down menu lets you sort by values (the text or data in the cell), cell color, font color, or cell icon.
- Choose an order from the Order drop-down list. A to Z means ascending, and Z to A means descending.
- Click OK and all the data will sort based on the data in the column you selected.
How to Sort By Multiple Columns
To refine a sort, sort by multiple columns. Open the Sort dialog box and fill out the first column to sort by, just as you’d do when sorting by one column. Then, for each additional column you’d like to use to sort the data, click Add Level. A new set of drop-down menus will appear; make selections from these menus to choose the second column to sort by. Note that each column selected takes precedence over the next. So if you sorted by salary and then by start date, the start-date sorting would come into play only if two employees had the same salary.
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