How to SORT Data in Excel | 7 Tips

Posted on: 08/03/2022

Excel has a powerful SORTING engine. SORT is the most popular function in Excel, and it can sort by many types of data, many attributes, and even custom sorting configurations.

In this article and video, I walk you through 7 major SORT feature tips and procedures. We look at ensuring the data is ready to sort, selecting the appropriate sorting range, and ensuring there are no blank rows or columns.

Then we sort in Excel by one column, multiple columns, by color, by date, custom sorting, and also sorting mixed data, ensuring that if we have numbers and numbers stored as text, we can correct that and still sort the data properly.

Outlook Contact Group from Excel data

YouTube Video on Sorting

Video Chapters:

00:00 Introduction
00:46 Check your data
02:05 Sort by one column
04:31 Sort by multiple columns
06:47 Sort by color
09:03 Sort by month
09:59 Custom sort
12:24 Sort mixed data
16:11 Closing remarks

Sort by Color in Excel

To sort by color in Excel:

Go to the Data tab. Click Sort.
Selec t the field you want to sort by. Change the Sort On to Cell Color. You can also sort by Font color.
Select the Order and pick the color you want to sort by. Continue selecting colors and click OK when done.

**Excel sort by color - select the color**

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Chris Menard

Chris Menard is a Microsoft Trainer (MCT) and works as a full-time Trainer at BakerHostetler - one of the largest law firms in the US. Chris runs a YouTube channel with 900+ technology videos that cover various tools such as Excel, Word, Zoom, Teams, Gmail, Copilot, Google Calendar, and Outlook. To date, the channel has helped over 20 million viewers. Menard also does 2 to 3 public speaking events yearly, presenting at the Administrative Professional Conference (APC), the EA Ignite Conference, the University of Georgia, and CPA conferences. You can connect with him on LinkedIn at https://chrismenardtraining.com/linkedin or watch his videos on YouTube at https://chrismenardtraining.com/youtube.