How To Sort Rows In Google Sheets

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

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Organizing your data is an important part of any data workflow.

Google Sheets provides a helpful way to sort your rows in ascending or descending order. This can be useful when working with large amounts of data, or when you want to view your data in a specific order. For example, you may want to sort your data by date or alphabetically.

This guide will explain how to use the Sort range option and Filter tool to sort rows in your spreadsheet.

These Google Sheets features will allow the user to specify which column to sort by and whether it should be sorted in ascending or descending order.

You may also sort your rows using two or more sort columns.

For example, you may want to sort a list of expenses by date in descending order, and expenses that fall on the same date will be sorted by category.

How To Arrange Rows in Ascending or Descending Order in Google Sheets

Here’s how to arrange rows in ascending or descending order in Google Sheets.

Step 1

If your dataset includes headers, we recommend freezing the header row before applying any sorting. To do this, select the first row of the dataset.

Step 2

At the top of the Google Sheets window, click View > Freeze. Select the number of rows you want to freeze.

Step 3

Select the range you would like to sort.

Step 4

In the Data menu, hover over Sort range and select Advanced range sorting options.

Step 5

In the dialog box that appears, indicate that your sheet has a header row. This option will make it easier to choose which columns to sort by.

Step 6

In the Sort by drop-down list, select the field you would like to sort your range by.

Step 7

Next, indicate whether you would like to sort the values from A to Z or from Z to A.

The former option is equivalent to an ascending sort for numerical values. Similarly, the latter option is equivalent to a descending sort.

Step 8

Click on the Sort button on the lower right to apply the sort on the given range.

Step 9

Your selected values should now be sorted appropriately.

Note that values outside the selected range are not affected by the sort.

Step 10

We may also sort by two or more sort columns. Before clicking on Sort in the Sort range dialog box, click on Add another sort column.

Step 11

The dialog box will now display a second row of options for a new sort column.

Do note that order of your sort columns matter. In the example above, Google Sheets will first order the patient data by Type then by Patient ID.

Step 12

After adding the necessary sort columns, click on Sort to apply the sort to the target range.

Step 13

If you plan on performing multiple sorts with your data, you may benefit from adding a filter to your range. Ranges with filters can be sorted much quicker.