How to use table sorting in Excel

In this article, we will learn How to use table sorting in Excel.

What is Sorting ?

Sorting is any process of arranging items systematically in Excel 2016 and has two common, yet distinct meanings:

1. Ordering: organizing items in a sequence ordered by some criterion like A to Z or vice versa and smallest to largest value or vice versa.
2. Categorizing: grouping items with similar properties like sorting on the basis of colour or value criteria.

Mostly we use ordering A-Z or Z-A in Excel

In Microsoft Excel, we can sort the data by using the AutoFilter sort’s data according to specific sort order rules.

Example :

All of these might be confusing to understand. Let's understand how to use the function using an example. Here we have two columns Item and Units.

We need to sort or filter Item and units. So we will select these two cells A1 and B1.

Click Home > Sort & Filter > Filter or use shortcut keys Ctrl+ Shift + L.

Now you will see a table like this

First, we will sort the column in ascending order i.e. from smallest to largest.

Select smallest to largest and you will have the excel sort table.

As you can see, the unit column is sorted in A to Z, i.e. ascending order.

Now we will sort the item column in descending order, i.e. from Z to A while keeping the prior changes.

Select Sort Z to A and click OK.

As you can see the table is in a sorted manner.

Here are all the observational notes using the .... function in Excel
Notes :

1. You can just use the shortcut Ctrl + Shift + L to apply sort and filter on the table, it can visible on the first row of table.
2. Avoid data validation cells using sorting. Data Validation is applied over cells and sorting is applied over values.

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