Sorting PivotTable Fields

You can sort a PivotTable field either by its own items (for example, alphabetizing the categories in Figure 15–11) or on the basis of values in the body of the table (for example, sorting categories in descending order of sales totals so the best-selling categories appear at the top). To sort a field, right-click any item in that field, and then click Sort. On the menu that appears, you can click Sort A To Z or Sort Z To A if you want to sort the field by its own items. If you want to sort the field by values in the body of the table, click More Sort Options. You’ll see a dialog box similar to the one shown on the next page (with the name of the field you selected in the title of the dialog box).

To sort by values in the table body instead of by items in the selected field, open the Ascending or Descending list. The list will include the available value fields.

Note 

To ensure that Excel retains your sort specification when you update your PivotTable, click More Options in the dialog box shown above. Then select Sort Automatically Every Time The Report Is Updated.