Turning Off Automatic Sorting in PivotTables

Written by Allen Wyatt (last updated May 7, 2022)
This tip applies to Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365

1

When Katara creates a PivotTable, Excel automatically sorts the data that appears in the PivotTable. She would rather not have the data sorted at all—it is just fine in the data range on which she's basing the PivotTable. Katara wonders if there is any way to turn off the automatic sorting.

Automatic sorting can be turned off by taking advantage of a setting that is (honestly) not that easy to find. Follow these steps:

  1. Create your PivotTable as you normally would.
  2. Click the down-arrow at the right of the Column Labels cell or the Row Labels cell, depending on whether you want to affect column or row sorting. Excel displays some options.
  3. Choose More Sort Options. Excel displays the Sort dialog box.
  4. At the bottom left of the dialog box click More Options. Excel displays the More Sort Options dialog box. (See Figure 1.)

    5. Figure 1. The More Sort Options dialog box.

  5. Clear the first checkbox in the dialog box (Sort Automatically Every Time the Report is Updated).
  6. Click OK to dismiss the More Sort Options dialog box. Excel again displays the Sort dialog box.
  7. Click OK to dismiss the Sort dialog box.

If you would like to explore additional PivotTable sorting capabilities, you might find this web page, by Debra Dalgleish, to be helpful:

https://www.contextures.com/excel-pivot-table-sorting.html

ExcelTips is your source for cost-effective Microsoft Excel training. This tip (12880) applies to Microsoft Excel 2007, 2010, 2013, 2016, 2019, 2021, and Excel in Microsoft 365.

Author Bio

Allen Wyatt

With more than 50 non-fiction books and numerous magazine articles to his credit, Allen Wyatt is an internationally recognized author. He is president of Sharon Parq Associates, a computer and publishing services company. ...

MORE FROM ALLEN

Bumping Numbers in a Document

If your documents include words that contain numbers (such as a list of parts numbers) you may need a way to increment ...

Discover More

Spell Checking Your Document

One of the final touches that many people perform is to check the spelling of their document. This can help improve the ...

Discover More

Determining How Many Styles are Available

Got a macro that processes or uses styles? You definitely need to know how many styles Word has available in the ...

Discover More

Dive Deep into Macros! Make Excel do things you thought were impossible, discover techniques you won't find anywhere else, and create powerful automated reports. Bill Jelen and Tracy Syrstad help you instantly visualize information to make it actionable. You’ll find step-by-step instructions, real-world case studies, and 50 workbooks packed with examples and solutions. Check out Microsoft Excel 2019 VBA and Macros today!

More ExcelTips (ribbon)

Displaying a PivotTable's Name in the PivotTable

When you create a PivotTable, it can have a name. You may want this name to appear within the PivotTable itself. There is ...

Discover More

Editing PivotTables without Underlying Data

If you ever try to edit a PivotTable and get an error that tells you that the "underlying data was not included," it can ...

Discover More

Counting Ports of Call with a PivotTable

A PivotTable is a great way to aggregate and analyze data. Sometimes, though, it can be difficult to figure out how to ...

Discover More
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

View most recent newsletter.

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

Comments

If you would like to add an image to your comment (not an avatar, but an image to help in making the point of your comment), include the characters [{fig}] (all 7 characters, in the sequence shown) in your comment text. You’ll be prompted to upload your image when you submit the comment. Maximum image size is 6Mpixels. Images larger than 600px wide or 1000px tall will be reduced. Up to three images may be included in a comment. All images are subject to review. Commenting privileges may be curtailed if inappropriate images are posted.

What is seven minus 4?

2022-06-18 14:18:04

ProblemChild

I have many pivot tables in a sheet. How to disable auto-sort option for columns for all the pivot tables using VBA. I don't want the columns to auto-sort and move left or right from the order in which I've set it up.
(see Figure 1 below)

Figure 1. 

This Site

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.

Newest Tips
Subscribe

FREE SERVICE: Get tips like this every week in ExcelTips, a free productivity newsletter. Enter your address and click "Subscribe."

(Your e-mail address is not shared with anyone, ever.)

View the most recent newsletter.

Links and Sharing
OUR COMPANY
OUR PRODUCTS
OUR SITES
 

Copyright © 2025 Sharon Parq Associates, Inc.