Excel: Sort Right - The Best Tips
If you sort your table correctly in Excel, you will get a much better overview. With this practical tip, we will show you the best tips for dividing your Excel spreadsheet in a meaningful way.
These tips will help you sort your spreadsheet correctly in Excel
If you have complex Excel documents in particular, you can use these tips to put your table in order. We show you the most important sorting functions.
- You can sort your table using the "Sort and Filter" button (see screenshot). You will find the button in the menu bar under "Start" as the penultimate symbol on the right. Always remember when sorting: All elements that you want to sort must be marked in advance.
- You can sort the contents of your table by alphabet or by numbers in ascending or descending order. This helps you, for example, if you want to sort a table with names by alphabet. You can also sort a table by numbers in ascending or descending order. For example, the highest or the lowest price is displayed first.
- If you click on "Custom sorting", you can use many other functions. For example, the tables can be sorted in terms of columns or cells. You can also set here whether you want to use upper and lower case letters, for example when sorting by alphabet. To do this, click "Options" and then make the appropriate selection before clicking "Ok".
- You can also sort the table by cell color. Select the appropriate sorting in the "Sort by" area. This sorting option can also be found under "Custom sorting".
- Your Excel spreadsheet will also become clearer if you sort it according to the font color. You will also find this point under "Sort by".
- One last important point can also be found under "Sort by": the cell symbols. If you have used certain cell symbols, you can also have the table sorted according to this.
- Finally, with "User-defined sorting" in the "Order" area, you can also select "User-defined list" and then, for example, sort by date.
Note: The practical tip was tested with Excel 2007. However, it works similarly with newer versions of Excel.
When you sort your table, it becomes clearer. In this context, it is often helpful to find duplicate lines and hide them accordingly.