Sorting & Filtering
Sorting reorders your rows, and filtering temporarily hides the rows you do not want to see.
What you will learn
- Sort data by a column
- Turn on filters and show only matching rows
- Combine a filter with a sort
Two ways to find what matters
When a sheet has hundreds of rows, you need to bring the important ones into view. Sorting and filtering do this — and the best part is they are buttons, not formulas.
- Sort reorders all the rows, for example smallest sales to largest, or A to Z by name.
- Filter hides rows that do not match a rule, so you only see the ones you care about. Your data is not deleted — just temporarily hidden.
Sorting your data
Click any cell inside your table, then go to Data > Sort. Pick the column to sort by and choose the order:
- A to Z (or Smallest to Largest) is ascending order.
- Z to A (or Largest to Smallest) is descending order.
Say you have this sales table sorted by name, and you re-sort it by Sales, largest first:
| Product | Sales |
|---|---|
| Bananas | 90 |
| Apples | 120 |
| Cherries | 60 |
Data > Sort > by "Sales" > Largest to SmallestNote: Output: Apples 120 Bananas 90 Cherries 60 The rows rearranged so the biggest seller sits at the top. Each whole row moved together, so every product kept its own sales figure — the name and number stay matched.
Watch out: Always sort the whole table, not just one column. If you select only the Sales column and sort it, the names stay put and every row gets the wrong number. Click one cell inside the table and let Excel select it all.
Filtering to specific rows
Click a cell in your table and choose Data > Filter. A small drop-down arrow appears on each heading. Click an arrow and tick only the values you want to keep.
For example, filter a Region column to show only North, and instantly every non-North row is hidden. You can also filter numbers, such as greater than 100, or filter dates by month.
Tip: You can sort and filter at the same time. A common move is to filter to one region, then sort those remaining rows by sales — so you see the top sellers for just that region.
Q. What is the safest way to sort a table so each name keeps its correct sales figure?
✍️ Practice
- Make a table of five products and their sales, then sort it from largest sales to smallest.
- Add a region column, turn on Filter, and show only the rows for one region.
🏠 Homework
- Take a list of at least eight rows with a category column. Filter to one category, then sort those rows by a number column and note the top result.