Excel 2010 Bible

Part I: Getting Started with Excel

110

Sorting and filtering a table .....................................................................................

The Header Row of a table contains a drop-down arrow that, when clicked, displays sorting and

filtering options (see Figure 5.9).

FIGURE 5.9

Each column in a table contains sorting and filtering option.

Sorting a table ...............................................................................................

Sorting a table rearranges the rows based on the contents of a particular column. You may want to

sort a table to put names in alphabetical order. Or, maybe you want to sort your sales staff by the

totals sales made.

To sort a table by a particular column, click the drop-down in the column header and choose one

of the sort commands. The exact command varies, depending on the type of data in the column.

You can also select Sort by Color to sort the rows based on the background or text color of the data.

This option is relevant only if you’ve overridden the table style colors with custom formatting.

You can sort on any number of columns. The trick is to sort the least significant column first and

then proceed until the most significant column is sorted lasted. For example, in the real estate

table, you may want to sort the list by agent. And within each agent’s group, sort the rows by area.