The sort key is the data in the column or columns you want to sort; it is identified by the column heading or field name. In the image above, the possible sort keys are Student ID, Name, Age, Program, and Month Started In a quick sort, clicking on a single cell in the column containing the sort key is sufficient to tell Excel what the sort key is.
This tutorial will teach you a few quick and easy ways to put Excel in alphabetical order. It also provides solutions for non-trivial tasks, for example how to alphabetize by last name when the entries start with the first name. Alphabetizing in Excel is as easy as ABC. Whether you are sorting an entire worksheet or selected range, vertically (a column) or horizontally (a row), ascending (A to Z) or descending (Z to A), in most cases the task can be accomplished with a button click. In some situations, however, the built-in features may stumble, but you can still figure out a way to sort by alphabetical order with formulas.
This tutorial will show you a few quick ways to alphabetize in Excel and teach how to foresee and prevent sorting problems. How to alphabetize in Excel Overall, there are 3 main ways to sort alphabetically in Excel: A-Z or Z-A button, the Sort feature, and filter.
Below you will find the detailed guidance on each method. How to sort a column alphabetically The fastest way to sort alphabetically in Excel is this:. Select any cell in the column you want to sort. On the Data tab, in the Sort and Filter group, click either A-Z to sort ascending or Z-A to sort descending. The same buttons can also be accessed from Home tab Editing group Sort and Filter: Either way, Excel will alphabetize your list instantaneously. After you've done sorting and before you do anything else, take a close look at the results.
If something looks wrong, click the Undo button to restore the original order. Alphabetize and keep rows together If your data set contains two or more columns, you can use the A-Z or Z-A button to put one of the columns in alphabetical order and Excel will automatically move the data in other columns, keeping the rows intact. As you can see in the sorted table on the right, the related information in each row is kept together: In some situations, mostly when just one or a few cells in the middle of your data set are selected, Excel is unsure which part of the data to sort and asks for your instructions. If you'd like to sort the entire table, leave the default Expand the selection option checked, and click Sort: Filter and alphabetize in Excel Another quick way to sort alphabetically in Excel is to.
The beauty of this method is that it's one-time setup - once the auto filter is applied, the sort options for all columns are only a mouse click away. Adding a filter to your table is easy:. Select one or several column headers. On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click Sort and Filter Filter. Small drop-down arrows will appear in each of the column headers. Click the drop-down arrow for the column you want to put in alphabetical order, and select Sort A to Z: The column is alphabetized straight away, and a small upward arrow on the filter button indicates the sorting order (ascending): To reverse the order, select Sort Z to A from the filter drop-down menu.
To remove the filter, simply click the Filter button again. How to put multiple columns in alphabetical order In case you want to alphabetize data in several columns, use the Excel Sort command, which gives more control over how your data is sorted. As an example, let's add one more column to our table, and then arrange the entries alphabetically first by Region, and then by Name: To have it done, please perform the following steps:. Select the entire table you want to sort. In most cases, you can select just one cell and Excel will pick the rest of your data automatically, but this is an error-prone approach, especially when there are some gaps (blank cells) within your data. On the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click the Sort.
The Sort dialog box will show up with the first sorting level created for you automatically as Excel sees fit. In the Sort by dropdown box, select the column you want to alphabetize first, Region in our case.
In the other two boxes, leave the default settings: Sort On - Cell values and Order - A to Z. Hi, I want to sort out nearly 100 columns and in all the columns rows number is differ. Ex, In one column, until row 10 have data in another column have data until 20.
In this situation, how to sort out the data in all column in A to Z format. I tried.But, in some columns in between blank cells came. Kindly help me. One more question, by reading this i understood that for sorting out multiple columns i have to use add level. But, when the column numbers are more means each time how can i go change the column number.
If there is other way, i could save my time. Dear Doug/Kathy, Sorry for the delayed reply. As you mentioned, I tried many times with the multiple column sorting. But, it doesn't work. Assume that, I've data in 3 columns like 10 to 1 in column A & B (Remember they're disorganized).
Column C has data. But, only 1 to 5(Disorganized). Now if I try to sort out the data by using multiple column method, it is not sorting out all the columns either largest to smallest or vice-versa. Is there any other way? And also, as I mentioned earlier discussion, I'm getting blank cells between rows.
Since there is value or data in the blank cells.
Learn how to summarize, sort, and analyze your data in using one of the most overlooked features in Microsoft Excel for Mac 2016: pivot tables. Author Curt Frye shows you how to gain more valuable insights from your organization's data—demystifying the complexity of pivot tables while demonstrating their power.
His tutorials show how to build PivotTables from Excel workbooks or external data sources, add calculated fields, filter results, and format your layout to make it more readable. Plus, learn how to use conditional formatting to intelligently highlight cells, apply color scales, create data bars, and share your pivot table results in printouts or via PDF. Instructor.
Curt Frye is a freelance course developer and writer. He has developed more than 50 online courses on topics including Microsoft Excel, Tableau, Mathematica, and social network analysis. He has also written more than 40 books, with recent titles including Microsoft Excel 2016 Step by Step and Microsoft OneNote 2016 Step by Step, both for Microsoft Press. In addition to his writing and course development, Curt is a popular conference speaker and entertainer. His programs include his Improspectives® approach to teamwork and creativity, analyzing and presenting data in Microsoft Excel, and his interactive Magic of the Mind show. By: Curt Frye course.
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6h 23m 42s. 19,246 viewers. Course Transcript - Voiceover When you display your data in a pivot table, you might want to display all of the rows, but change the order in which they're displayed. In this movie, I will show you how to sort the data within your pivot table and my sample file is the Sorting Excel workbook, which you can find in the chapter three folder of your exercise files collection. This workbook displays quarterly revenue data for four different room types, Cambridge, Piccadilly, Oxford, and Westminster, and what I'd like to do is to sort the data in a variety of ways. I can sort based on any of the fields that are visible within the pivot table.
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So, let's say that I want to sort by Quarter with the highest values on top. That will be in descending order. Because I want to go by Quarter, I'll need to go to the Row Labels area, click the down arrow at the right of the Row Labels cell. That displays the Year dialog box.
And the reason it displays the Year dialog box is because I have Year as my top level of. Practice while you learn with exercise files. Watch this course anytime, anywhere.
Course Contents. Introduction Introduction. 1. Creating and Pivoting PivotTables 1. Creating and Pivoting PivotTables. 2. Summarizing PivotTable Data 2.
Summarizing PivotTable Data. 3. Sorting and Filtering PivotTable Data 3. Sorting and Filtering PivotTable Data. 4. Formatting and Printing PivotTables 4. Formatting and Printing PivotTables.
5. Applying Conditional Formats to PivotTables 5. Applying Conditional Formats to PivotTables.
Conclusion Conclusion.