Analyzing Your Excel 2013 Data

  • 2/15/2013

Sorting data

Because you can use Excel 2013 for more than just numbers, you might want to take advantage of it to store all kinds of information such as customer lists or inventory databases. You can use Excel’s Sort tool to organize the information in your worksheet and sort it in a way that’s meaningful for you.

Sorting is easy in Excel. You can choose an Ascending or Descending sort, or you can customize the process by sorting your information on the elements and in the order you specify.

Do a simple sort

  1. Click any cell in the column of data that you want to sort.

  2. Click the Data tab.

  3. Follow either of these steps:

    • In the Sort & Filter group, click the Sort Ascending button.

    • In the Sort & Filter group, click the Sort Descending button.

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Create a custom sort

  1. Select a cell in the data range or Excel table that you want to sort.

  2. Click the Data tab.

  3. Click Sort.

    The Sort dialog box opens.

  4. Click the Sort By arrow and select the criterion by which you want to sort.

  5. Click the Sort On arrow and select the criterion by which you want to sort.

  6. Click the Order arrow and then select the order in which the column’s values should be sorted.

  7. Click Add Level.

  8. If necessary, repeat steps 4–7 to set the columns and order for additional sorting rules.

  9. Click OK.