EDUCBA

EDUCBA

MENUMENU
  • Free Tutorials
  • Certification Courses
  • 120+ Courses All in One Bundle
  • Login

Sort Column in Excel

By Karthikeyan SubburamanKarthikeyan Subburaman

Home » Excel » Blog » Excel Tips » Sort Column in Excel

Sort Column in Excel

Sort Column in Excel (Table of Contents)

  • Sort Column in Excel
  • How to Sort a Column in Excel?

Introduction to Sort Column in Excel

To sort the column in excel, first, select the cell in the column we want to sort and then click on the Sort option, which is available in the Data tab. In the drop-down of Sort By, we will be able to see all the headers name. Select the one which we want to sort. And then select the criteria from Sort On and Values by which we can to sort to the values from that column. We also insert multiple levels by which we can get a more precise or exact output.

Start Your Free Excel Course

Excel functions, formula, charts, formatting creating excel dashboard & others

How to Sort Column in Excel?

In excel, we can find the SORT under the DATA menu, as shown in the below screenshot.

You can download this Column Sort Excel Template here – Column Sort Excel Template

Sort column in excel data

Where we can find the sort option like A to Z (Ascending to Descending order ) and Z to A (Descending to Ascending Order).

Sort Column in Excel is very simple and easy to use. Let us understand the working of Column Sort in Excel by some examples.

Example #1

In this example, we are going to see how to use the sort function by using the sales data available in the database, as shown below.

Sort Column product title

The above example has sales data that contain SKU, Product name, BRAND and MRP; now consider that we are going to sort the sales data by A to Z using the Product name as follows:

Popular Course in this category
Sale
Excel Training (21 Courses, 9+ Projects)21 Online Courses | 9 Hands-on Projects | 110+ Hours | Verifiable Certificate of Completion | Lifetime Access
4.9 (11,004 ratings)
Course Price

View Course

Related Courses
Excel Data Analysis Training (15 Courses, 8+ Projects)Excel for Finance Training (18 Courses, 7+ Projects)
  • First, select column B, a column named product name & apply the sorting.
  • Go to the Data menu.
  • Choose the A to Z Sorting as shown below.

Sort Column press F1

  • Once we click on the A to Z option, we will get the below dialogue box as follows.

Sort Column sort warning

  • Sorting will ask for two options like either to
  1. Expand the selection or
  2. Continue with the current selection.

Expand Section

  • Choose the first option to Expand the selection and Click Sort.

Display product

  • The result will be displayed as A to Z order.

Column Example 1-6

Example #2

In these examples, we will try to sort out the sales data in a reverse order, i.e. Using Z to A Sorting.

Consider the same sales data and apply it to sort by following the below-mentioned procedure as follows.

  • First, select the column B column named product name & apply the sorting.
  • Go to the Data menu.
  • Choose the Z to A Sorting as shown below:

Sort Example 2-1

  • Sorting will ask for two options like either to
  1. Expand the selection or
  2. Continue with the current selection.
  • Choose the first option to Expand the selection And Click Sort.

Column expand Selection

  • The result will be displayed as a Z to A order.
  • We will get the sales data arranged in Z to A format, as shown below.

Arrange format

Example #3 – Advance Sort Option

In this example, we are going to see the advanced sort option, which allows us to sort out multiple options; so that we can get the specific data that we are looking for; we can find custom sort under sort opting as explained below.

In excel, we can find this custom sort option at the right corner of the ribbon, as shown below:

sort filter

  • Choose the custom sort option where we will get the sorting dialogue box as follows.

Column Sort Example 3-2

  • The sorting option will ask to expand the selection or to continue with the current selection.
  • Choose the first option to Expand the selection And Click sort.

Column Sort Example 3-3

  • We will get the custom sort option dialogue box with multiple sorting, as shown below.

Column Sort Example 3-4

We can see that in the above screenshot has three multiple sorting options as Sort by “Product Title”, By “Values”, and By Order “ A to Z or Z to A.

Now we will see how to use this three different option by following the below procedure:

  • Click the Product title.
  • It will list the name displayed as follows, which comes from the database header sales data.

Column Sort Example 3-5

  • Now we can sort by using multiples title, values and order.
  • Consider that we need to sort the sales data by Brand wise with A to Z sorting order.
  • Click on the brand option and select the order by A to Z.

Column Sort Example 3-6

  • The sorting option will sort out the result by brand wise from A to Z order, as shown below.

Column Sort Example 3-7

We can see that in the above example, that brand column has been sorted by brand-wise with A to Z order.

Example #4

In this example, we will see how to sort the sales data by using numbers.

Let’s consider the sales data, which has selling price for different products as follows. So if we want to find out the least selling price of the product in huge sales data, it’s very difficult to find out the exact least selling prices. In this scenario, we can use the Sorting feature by using numbers to ascend to descending order and vice versa. Let’s see the example with sales data with sorting the numbers.

Here we can see the sales database, which has the product name, Brand-name, MRP, and Selling prices now; let’s see how to sort the numbers from smallest to highest.

  • Select the E column cell named SP to sort out the Smallest to Highest numbers.
  • Go to the sort option as follows.
  • Once we click the sort option, we can see the sorting options like smallest to highest and highest to smallest.
  • Select smallest to highest to get the least selling price.

Column Sort Example 4-1

  • Now we can see the difference in the selling price that it has been sorted from smallest to highest numbers.

Column Sort Example 4-2

  • Same like this, we can do vice versa to get the highest selling price to the lowest selling price by using the sorting opting “Largest to Smallest.

Column Sort Example 4-3

Example #5

In this, we will see how to get the highest selling MRP for a specific product by using sorting.

Let’s consider the below example which has MRP for all the product as shown below:

Column Sort Example 5-1

Here we need to find out which product is selling in Higher MRP. In these cases, we can use the sort option for a number by sorting the largest to smallest as follows:

  • Choose the MRP cell and go to the sorting option.
  • Choose Sorting option Largest to Smallest.

Column Sort Example 5-2

  • The sales data will be rearranged as follows.

Column Sort Example 5-3

Now we can see the sales data very clearly that the MRP column has been sorted from largest to smallest. Now we can configure easily that the above products are selling at the highest MRP.

Things to Remember about Sort Column in Excel 

  • Don no use a blank column while using sorting in Excel.
  • Do not hide the column in Excel while using sorting because once the column is hidden, it cannot be moved while using sorting. So it’s better to unhide the column before applying to sort.
  • Enter the caption header in one row and do not merge the cell while sorting a column in excel.

Recommended Articles

This has been a guide to Sort Column in Excel. Here we discuss how to Sort Column in Excel along with practical examples and a downloadable excel template. You can also go through our other suggested articles –

  1. Excel Sort by Date
  2. Excel Sort By Number
  3. Sorting in Excel
  4. Excel Sort by color

All in One Excel VBA Bundle (120+ Courses, 30+ Projects)

120+ Online Courses

30+ Projects

500+ Hours

Verifiable Certificates

Lifetime Access

Learn More

3 Shares
Share
Tweet
Share
Primary Sidebar
Excel Functions
  • Excel Tips
    • Recover Document in Excel
    • Excel Shortcut to Select Row
    • Excel Header Row
    • Excel Insert Button
    • Excel Translate
    • Budget in Excel
    • KPI Dashboard in Excel
    • Blank Invoice Excel Template
    • Write Formula in Excel
    • Auditing Tools in Excel
    • Autofit Row Height in Excel
    • Formatting Text in Excel
    • Add Rows in Excel Shortcut
    • Divide Cell in Excel
    • Compare Two Columns in Excel for Matches
    • Excel Troubleshooting
    • Unprotect Excel Workbook
    • Subtract Date in Excel
    • Carriage Return in Excel
    • Negative Numbers in Excel
    • Worksheets in Excel
    • Excel Match Multiple Criteria
    • Exponential Moving Average Formula
    • Sentence Case in Excel
    • Excel Reverse Order
    • Excel Timesheet Template
    • Weighted Average in Excel
    • CTRL Shift-Enter in Excel
    • Excel Expense Tracker
    • INDEX MATCH Function in Excel
    • Percent Change in Excel
    • Drag and Drop in Excel
    • Shade Alternate Rows in Excel
    • Excel Database Template
    • Inverse Matrix in Excel
    • New Line in Excel Cell
    • Format Cells in Excel
    • Excel Text with Formula
    • Project Management Template in Excel
    • Vlookup vs Index Match
    • Embedded in Excel
    • Count Colored Cells in Excel
    • Excel Hacks
    • Column Header in Excel
    • Database Function in Excel
    • Excel Spell Check
    • Linear Interpolation in Excel
    • Convert Excel to CSV
    • Excel Not Responding
    • Delta Symbol in Excel
    • Excel Mortgage Calculator
    • Excel Show Formula
    • Break Links in Excel
    • VLOOKUP Examples in Excel
    • Alternate Row Color Excel
    • Checklist in Excel
    • Microsoft Office Tips
    • Excel vs Access
    • Excel Change Case
    • Count Characters in Excel
    • Formula Bar in Excel
    • Invoice Template in Excel
    • Find and Replace in Excel
    • PowerPivot in Excel
    • Wildcard in Excel
    • Line Break in Excel
    • NULL in Excel
    • Text Formula in Excel
    • Family Tree in Excel
    • Insert Calendar in Excel
    • Page Setup in Excel
    • Search For Text in Excel
    • Switching Columns in Excel
    • 3D Cell Reference in Excel
    • Roadmap Template in Excel
    • Cell References in Excel
    • Excel Automation
    • Matching Columns in Excel
    • Evaluate Formula in Excel
    • How to Find Mean in Excel
    • How to Add Cells in Excel
    • Project Timeline in Excel
    • TODAY Formula in Excel
    • Poisson Distribution in Excel
    • YEAR Formula in Excel
    • REPLACE Formula in Excel
    • Create Spreadsheet in Excel
    • SEARCH Formula in Excel
    • HYPERLINK Formula in Excel
    • Pivot Table with Multiple Sheets
    • COLUMNS Formula in Excel
    • DAY Formula in Excel
    • RIGHT Formula in Excel
    • INDIRECT Formula in Excel
    • Excel IRR Formula
    • Pivot Table Sort
    • OR Formula in Excel
    • Pivot Table Formula in Excel
    • How to Edit Drop Down List in Excel?
    • WEEKDAY Formula in Excel
    • Chart Wizard in Excel
    • Time Difference in Excel
    • Lookup Table in Excel
    • SUBTOTAL Formula in Excel
    • LOOKUP Formula in Excel
    • Themes in Excel
    • Group Worksheets in Excel
    • Excel ISNUMBER Formula
    • 3D Maps in Excel
    • VLOOKUP Tutorial in Excel
    • Moving Columns in Excel
    • Grouping Columns in Excel
    • Excel Formula of Percentage
    • Excel Leading Zeros
    • Timesheet in Excel
    • Nested IF Formula in Excel
    • SUMIF Formula in Excel
    • Concatenation in Excel
    • Excel Insert Page Break
    • LEN Formula in Excel
    • Insert Comment in Excel
    • Excel Print
    • Fractions in Excel
    • Excel Add a Column
    • Borders in Excel
    • Excel Sum by Color
    • Excel vs Google Sheets
    • Calculate Percentage Increase in Excel
    • Excel Format Phone Numbers
    • Excel Search Box
    • Excel vs CSV
    • Excel vs Numbers
    • Excel Concatenate Date
    • Excel Bullet Points
    • Calculate Compound Interest in Excel
    • Find External Links in Excel
    • Excel Comma Style
    • Excel Remove Leading Spaces
    • Combine First and Last Name in Excel
    • How to Calculate Ratio in Excel
    • SUMPRODUCT Function with Multiple Criteria
    • Create Excel Template
    • Excel Greater than or Equal
    • Excel Keyboard Shortcuts
    • Excel Row vs Excel Column
    • Excel Operators
    • Excel Text Compare
    • Excel Uppercase Function
    • Excel Auto Numbering
    • Watermark in Excel
    • Excel Delete Row Shortcut
    • Excel Word Count
    • Row Count in Excel
    • Excel Grade Formula
    • Excel Percentage Difference
    • Excel Rows and Columns
    • Excel Group
    • Excel Move Columns
    • Excel Row Height
    • Excel Sparklines
    • Excel Drawing a line
    • Multiple IFS in Excel
    • Excel Strikethrough
    • Numbering in Excel
    • Share Excel Workbook
    • Excel Shortcut For Merge Cells
    • Excel OneDrive
    • Excel Track changes
    • Excel Hide Formula
    • Excel Filter Shortcuts
    • Excel 3D Reference
    • Protect Excel Workbook
    • Excel Moving Averages
    • Excel Row Limit
    • Excel Absolute Value
    • Excel Print Area
    • Excel Format Painter
    • Excel Separate text
    • Excel Autofit
    • Excel Columns to Rows
    • Excel Paste Shortcut Option
    • Excel Rows to Columns
    • Excel Insert Row Shortcut
    • Excel Extensions
    • Excel Unmerge Cells
    • Divide in Excel Formula
    • Excel Compare Two Columns
    • Not Equal To Excel
    • Excel Remove Duplicates
    • Excel Remove Spaces
    • Excel Calculate Age
    • Copy Excel Sheet
    • Excel Conditional Formatting Based on Another Cell Value
    • Excel Cell Reference
    • Excel Split Cell
    • Excel Circular Reference
    • Highlight Every Other Row in Excel
    • Errors in Excel
    • Excel Delete Pivot Table
    • Excel Pivot Table
    • Subtraction in Excel
    • Count Unique Values in Excel
    • Excel Highlight Duplicates
    • Excel Data Formatting
    • Random Numbers in Excel
    • Basic Excel Formulas
    • Page Numbers in Excel
    • Excel CAGR Formula
    • Excel Combine cells
    • IFERROR with VLOOKUP in Excel
    • Column Sort in Excel
    • Print Comments in Excel
    • Cheat Sheet of Excel Formulas
    • Remove Hyperlinks in Excel
    • Excel Drop Down List
    • Remove (Delete) Blank Rows in Excel
    • Relative Reference in Excel
    • Subscript in Excel
    • Superscript in Excel
    • Excel Insert Multiple Rows
    • Excel Absolute Reference
    • Unhide Columns in Excel
  • Excel Functions (12+)
  • Excel Tools (114+)
  • Financial Functions in Excel (17+)
  • Logical Functions in Excel (14+)
  • Lookup Reference Functions in Excel (34+)
  • Maths Function in Excel (47+)
  • TEXT and String Functions in Excel (26+)
  • Date and Time Function in Excel (23+)
  • Statistical Functions in Excel (58+)
  • Information Functions in Excel (4+)
  • Excel Charts (56+)
  • Workplace Productivity (4+)
  • Microsoft Office Tools (15+)
  • Excel Formula and Functions (21+)
  • MS Excel Shortcuts (4+)
Excel Functions Courses
  • EXCEL COURSE
  • Online Excel Data Analysis Course
  • Excel for Finance Course
Footer
About Us
  • Blog
  • Who is EDUCBA?
  • Sign Up
  • Live Classes
  • Corporate Training
  • Certificate from Top Institutions
  • Contact Us
  • Verifiable Certificate
  • Reviews
  • Terms and Conditions
  • Privacy Policy
  •  
Apps
  • iPhone & iPad
  • Android
Resources
  • Free Courses
  • Excel Charts
  • Excel Tips
  • All Tutorials
Certification Courses
  • All Courses
  • Excel VBA Course - All in One Bundle
  • VBA Course
  • Excel Data Analysis Course
  • Excel for Marketing Course
  • Excel for Finance Course
  • Excel for HR Training

© 2022 - EDUCBA. ALL RIGHTS RESERVED. THE CERTIFICATION NAMES ARE THE TRADEMARKS OF THEIR RESPECTIVE OWNERS.

EDUCBA
Free Excel Course

Excel functions, formula, charts, formatting creating excel dashboard & others

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

EDUCBA
Free Excel Course

Excel functions, formula, charts, formatting creating excel dashboard & others

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Let’s Get Started

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Loading . . .
Quiz
Question:

Answer:

Quiz Result
Total QuestionsCorrect AnswersWrong AnswersPercentage

Explore 1000+ varieties of Mock tests View more

EDUCBA Login

Forgot Password?

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

This website or its third-party tools use cookies, which are necessary to its functioning and required to achieve the purposes illustrated in the cookie policy. By closing this banner, scrolling this page, clicking a link or continuing to browse otherwise, you agree to our Privacy Policy

EDUCBA

Download Column Sort Excel Template

EDUCBA

*Please provide your correct email id. Login details for this Free course will be emailed to you

By signing up, you agree to our Terms of Use and Privacy Policy.

Special Offer - EXCEL COURSE Learn More