Excel Sorting and Filtering

Sorting rearranges the rows in a table into a meaningful order, while filtering temporarily hides the rows you don't need so you can focus on a smaller slice of your data.

Sorting vs. Filtering

Sorting and filtering solve two different problems. Sorting changes the order of every row in your table - for example, arranging a list of employees from the highest salary to the lowest. Filtering leaves the row order untouched but hides any row that doesn't match a condition you set, such as showing only employees in the Marketing department. You can combine both: filter down to the rows you care about, then sort that smaller set.

Sorting a Single Column

  1. Click any cell inside the column you want to sort.
  2. Open the Data tab and look in the Sort & Filter group.
  3. Click the A-Z button to sort ascending, or Z-A to sort descending.
  4. For a numeric column, the same two buttons sort smallest-to-largest or largest-to-smallest.
Note: Excel usually detects a header row on its own and leaves it in place while sorting, as long as the top row looks different from the data below it (text labels sitting above numbers, for instance). If it guesses wrong, open Data > Sort and tick 'My data has headers' yourself.

Sorting by Several Columns at Once

A single-click sort is fine for one column, but real spreadsheets often need a tie-breaker. Imagine an order list you want sorted by Region first, and within each region sorted by Order Date. Open Data > Sort to build this with multiple levels: the first level decides the main order, and each 'Add Level' becomes a tie-breaker for rows that are equal on the levels above it.

Building a Two-Level Sort

1. Select any cell in the table
2. Data tab > Sort
3. Sort by:   Region      Order: A to Z
4. Click 'Add Level'
5. Then by:   Order Date  Order: Oldest to Newest
6. Click OK

Turning On Filters

Select any cell in your table and press Ctrl+Shift+L, or click Filter on the Data tab. A small dropdown arrow appears in every header cell. Clicking an arrow opens a checklist of every unique value in that column - unchecking a value hides all rows containing it. The same menu also offers Text Filters, Number Filters, or Date Filters with conditions like 'greater than', 'begins with', or 'between'.

  • Text Filters - conditions such as 'Begins With', 'Contains', or 'Ends With'
  • Number Filters - conditions such as 'Greater Than', 'Between', or 'Top 10'
  • Date Filters - quick picks like 'This Week', 'Last Month', or 'Year to Date'
  • Filter by Color - shows only rows with a specific cell or font color
Number Filter ConditionWhat It Shows
EqualsRows where the value matches exactly
Greater Than / Less ThanRows above or below a value you enter
BetweenRows falling inside a range of two values
Top 10The highest or lowest N items, or a top percentage
Above AverageRows whose value beats the column average

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