Search for:
Quick Category Links

SharePoint
Project Management
Professional Development
Office Applications
Categories
Tags
AJAX briefing Business Certification Conferences Consulting CorasWorks Document Management Education and Training Email Enterprise Project Management EPM Events Excel Knowledge Management Maintenance Meta element Microsoft Microsoft Access Microsoft Excel Microsoft Office Microsoft Outlook Microsoft PowerPoint Microsoft Project Microsoft SharePoint Microsoft Windows Microsoft Word Mondosoft Office 2007 Ontolica Operating Systems PMI PMP PowerPoint press release Project Management SDPS search seminar SEO SharePoint Designer Social Media Twitter Windows Server 2008 Windows Vista
Other Links

Meet Our Authors

Aug

Custom Order Sort in Excel

By Jane H (25 posts -- read other by posts Jane H)

Sorting is a popular and easy feature in Excel. You simply select a cell in the column you want sorted and the click Sort button to sort in ascending or descending order. But what if you wanted an exception to the normal sort rules? In the following image the list is sorted by last name. Rosa Garcia is my best client and I want her to always be on top of the list when I sort by last name. This article will show you how a custom order sort easily achieves that result (Click image for larger view).

First click in a cell of the last name column. On the Home tab in Excel 2007, click the Sort & Filter button in the Edit group. Select Custom Sort… from the drop down menu. Confirm that you are sorting by the Last name column (or whatever column you want to create a custom sort). Then select Custom List… from the Order drop down (Click image for larger view).

This opens the Custom Lists dialog box. In the List entries pane, create your list with a new row for each entry. Since I only wanted Garcia, I’ve entered her last name and click the Add button. Then I click OK (Click image for larger view).

Garcia should display in the Order field of the Sort dialog box. Click OK and the table is sorted by last name with Garcia at the top and remaining values sorted in typical ascending value (Click image for larger view).

If you are using an earlier version of Excel, you can still create a custom order sort. The steps are similar but the sequence and interface is different.

First create your custom list. From the menu bar select Tools > Options; click the Custom Lists tab and create your list.
After your list is completed, from the menu bar select Data > Sort and click the Options button in the lower left corner. Select your custom list from the First key sort order drop down.
Click OK and complete your sort.

Technorati Tags: Microsoft Excel

Related Posts:

Filed Under Excel |

(No Ratings Yet)

Loading ...

Comments