• Home
  • About 404TS
  • Contact

404 Tech Support

Where IT Help is Found

  • Articles
    • Code
    • Entertainment
    • Going Green
    • Hardware, Gadgets, and Products
    • Management
    • Network
    • News
    • Operating Systems
    • Security and Privacy
    • Software
    • System Administration
    • Talking Points
    • Tech Solutions
    • Web
    • Webmaster
  • Reviews
  • Media
    • Infographics
    • Videos
  • Tech Events
  • Tools
    • How do I find my IP address?
    • Browser and plugin tests
  • Get a Technical Consultation
You are here: Home / Articles / Tech Solutions / How to: Sort an Excel spreadsheet while keeping the rows intact

How to: Sort an Excel spreadsheet while keeping the rows intact

2012-08-17 by Jason

Ever received or generated a spreadsheet of data that would be a lot more useful if it was sorted how you needed it? With previous versions of Excel or if you choose the wrong options in your configuration, it is easy to sort a single column but break the correlation between the data in that column and the rest of the entries in each row. Here’s how to sort the spreadsheet by a single column and get all of your data to move with it.

As an example, let’s say here’s your data. For the teachers, the spreadsheet was prepared and sorted by last name. However, for us, that’s not as useful. We think it would be better to be sorted by building. Right now, that data in this small excerpt of the data is a mess.

Select all of your data. You can do this by highlighting all of the data or I think it’s better to select all of the columns by clicking and dragging from the first column to the last. Once the data is selected, switch to the Data tab and hit the Sort button.

The Sort button will bring up a window where you can configure things with more details. Since my data has the headers of Building, Room Number, and Teacher, I’m going to leave the ‘My data has headers’ box checked. If you don’t have headers and just have data, uncheck the box.

Next, go down to the lower level and choose what column you want to sort by. For us, that is ‘Building’. The next to columns allow us to choose what to ‘Sort On’. Since we care about the values in the fields, we’re going to stick with the default ‘Values’. We want it to be alphabetical, so we’ll leave it A to Z. You can then hit the Ok button and the selected data will be sorted as you specified.

Now your resulting data is sorted by the column you specified and the rest of the columns remained intact with each row.

You can use that Sort window for more complicated sorting by clicking the ‘Add Level’ button. This will allow you to sort by additional columns in case there is a tie in the first specified column.

Filed Under: Tech Solutions

Trending

  • Symantec and Norton blue screen Windows XP computers
    In Tech Solutions
  • ARRIS introduces their first DOCSIS 3.1 cable modem with the SURFboard SB8200, available on Amazon
    In Featured, Hardware, Gadgets, and Products, Network
  • Avast! 7 Free Antivirus now available
    In Security and Privacy, Software

Latest Media Posts

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Find Out Where To Download SNES ROMs

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

Multifunctional Video Conversion Tools – Wondershare Video Converter

  • Popular
  • Latest
  • Today Week Month All
  • How to ‘Unblock’ multiple files at a time with PowerShell How to 'Unblock' multiple files at a time with PowerShell
  • Read the Event Logs on Windows Server Core Read the Event Logs on Windows Server Core
  • SOLVED: “This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked.” SOLVED: "This modification is not allowed because the selection is locked."
  • Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability Increase IIS Private Memory Limit to improve WSUS availability
  • Access to the resource [servershare] has been disallowed Access to the resource [servershare] has been disallowed
  • Keeping Your Mac Healthy: A Comprehensive Guide to Maintenance and Troubleshooting Keeping Your Mac Healthy: A Comprehensive Guide to Maintenance and Troubleshooting
  • Making Distributed Software Development Work: Strategies and Best Practices for Managing Remote Teams Making Distributed Software Development Work: Strategies and Best Practices for Managing Remote Teams
  • customer contactless payment for drink with mobile phon at cafe counter bar,seller coffee shop accept payment by mobile.new normal lifestyle concept The Latest Innovations In Payment Technology
  • How Digital Technology Brought the Rise of the CMO   How Digital Technology Brought the Rise of the CMO  
  • How to Purchase Cryptocurrencies? How to Purchase Cryptocurrencies?
Ajax spinner

Elevator Pitch

404 Tech Support documents solutions to IT problems, shares worthwhile software and websites, and reviews hardware, consumer electronics, and technology-related books.

Subscribe to 404TS articles by email.

Recent Posts

  • Keeping Your Mac Healthy: A Comprehensive Guide to Maintenance and Troubleshooting
  • Making Distributed Software Development Work: Strategies and Best Practices for Managing Remote Teams
  • The Latest Innovations In Payment Technology

Search

FTC Disclaimer

404TechSupport is an Amazon.com affiliate; when you click on an Amazon link from 404TS, the site gets a cut of the proceeds from whatever you buy. This site also uses Skimlinks for smart monetization of other affiliate links.
Use of this site requires displaying and viewing ads as they are presented.

Copyright © 2023 · Magazine Pro Theme on Genesis Framework · WordPress · Log in