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You can sort Excel data in ascending or descending order. In an ascending sort , Microsoft Excel sorts numbers first, then alphanumeric data. Ascending will sort alphabetically A through Z or numerically smallest to largest. Sorting descending will do just the opposite ; it will sort alphabetically Z through A and numerically largest to smallest. Blank cells are always placed last, whether sorting in ascending or descending order.
Excel provides two buttons on the Standard toolbar to perform a simple sort, which is data sorted by a single column. If your data is in an inclusive arrangement, you can use the toolbar buttons to quickly sort by a specified column. One button, the AZ button, sorts the data in ascending order, and the other button, the ZA button, sorts in descending order.
If you need to sort your data by more than a single column, you can use the Excel Sort dialog box. With the Sort dialog box, you can specify a column for a secondary or even a third sort. The most common sort is to sort the individual rows in a particular column. You create a secondary sort if two items in the first column are the same.
NOTE
If there is data in adjacent columns and you highlight only a portion of the data table, Excel will inquire if you meant to include the adjacent columns.
The Sort dialog box provides the option to sort by three different fields.
NOTE
If your data has a header row, Excel will indicate the columns by the header explanation. If there is no header row, Excel will reference the columns by the column letter.
If you sort by a column of months, Excel will attempt to put them in alphabetical orderApril, August, December, February, and so forth. You can, however, prompt Excel to recognize these cells as months and to sort them accordingly . You can also apply these same principles to sorting by days of the week.
There is a certain format dates must use when sorting. The months or days must be either spelled in their entirety or abbreviated with three characters and no period (such as Jan or Fri). Using any other abbreviation or punctuation will make the data sort incorrectly.
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