How To Alphabetize In Google Sheets

In this tutorial, you will learn how to alphabetize in Google Sheets.

How To Alphabetize In Google Sheets

Organizing data is a key part of working with spreadsheets. One way to do this is to sort a range of cells alphabetically. In Google Sheets, this is a quick and easy task that can be done in just a few clicks.

In this guide, we will show you how to sort a range of cells alphabetically in Google Sheets.

We’ll look at both sorting in ascending and descending order, as well as how to sort multiple columns at once. We’ll also explain how to access more advanced sorting options.

How To Sort a Range Alphabetically In Google Sheets

Here are the techniques you can use to sort a range alphabetically in Google Sheets.

Step 1

Select the field you want to sort your sheet by.

In this example, we want to sort our employee directory by last name.

Step 2

Right-click on the column header and select either ‘Sort sheet A to Z’ or Sort sheet Z to A’

Step 3

This method will alphabetize the entire active sheet in either ascending or descending order.

Step 4

If you want the first column to remain fixed in place, you must use the Freeze feature. Rows that are frozen will not be affected by the sorting.

You can find the option to sort the top-most row by clicking View > Freeze > 1 row.

Step 5

Users can now sort the entire sheet without having to worry about misplacing the header rows.

Frozen rows will also remain visible as the user scrolls through the sheet.

Step 6

If you want to sort a specific range rather than an entire sheet, we suggest using the Sort range feature. Google Sheets can sort a specific sheet using one or more columns.

Select the range you want to sort and click the option Data > Sort range > Advanced range sorting options.

Step 7

In the pop-up, indicate whether your selection has a header row.

Next, use the provided dropdown list to select which field to use for sorting. You must also indicate whether to sort in ascending or descending order.

In the example above, we’ve decided to sort our employee directory first by department in ascending order.

Step 8

Click on the ‘Add another sort column’ to choose a secondary sort field. The secondary sort field will come into play if there are any entries that have the same value in the primary sort field.

In the example above, we’ve chosen the last_name field as our secondary sort field.

This means that employees will be sorted alphabetically by their department first. Employees in the same department will be sorted by surname in ascending order.

Step 8

We can also use the SORT function to create a dynamic range that sorts an existing range.

The function accepts three arguments: the cell range to sort, the column to sort with, and the sort order (TRUE for ascending and FALSE for descending)

One advantage of using the SORT function is that it keeps the original unsorted data intact.

Summary

This guide should be everything you need to alphabetize in Google Sheets.

You may make a copy of this example spreadsheet to test it out on your own.