Please Note: This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here: Understanding Ascending and Descending Sorts.
Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated January 21, 2017)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016
As you might expect from their names, ascending sorts are done such that values increase, while descending sorts result in values decreasing. How does this affect your actual data, however?
If you choose to do an ascending sort, Excel uses the following sorting order:
Descending is the opposite of ascending. No matter which order you choose, Excel always places blanks (empty fields) at the end of the final list. Understand, as well, that ascending and descending sorts can be modified in Excel based upon custom lists and cell colors, both of which are beyond the scope of this tip.
ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12399) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. You can find a version of this tip for the older menu interface of Excel here: Understanding Ascending and Descending Sorts.
Excel Smarts for Beginners! Featuring the friendly and trusted For Dummies style, this popular guide shows beginners how to get up and running with Excel while also helping more experienced users get comfortable with the newest features. Check out Excel 2013 For Dummies today!
Sorting by dates is easy, and you end up with a list that is in chronological order. However, things become a bit more ...
Discover MoreWhen you sort data in a worksheet, you don't need to sort everything at once. You can sort just a portion of your data by ...
Discover MoreIf you have a mixture of numbers and text in a column and you want to sort based upon that column, the results may not be ...
Discover MoreFREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
2017-01-21 10:33:11
Gerhard
Dates are just treated as their numerical values, i.e. they come in between 1 and 99999, for instance.
Leading blanks (spaces) appear between numbers and (other) punctuation.
Got a version of Excel that uses the ribbon interface (Excel 2007 or later)? This site is for you! If you use an earlier version of Excel, visit our ExcelTips site focusing on the menu interface.
FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."
Copyright © 2022 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.
Please Note:
This article is written for users of the following Microsoft Excel versions: 2007, 2010, 2013, and 2016. If you are using an earlier version (Excel 2003 or earlier), this tip may not work for you. For a version of this tip written specifically for earlier versions of Excel, click here:
Comments