shortcut to switch between sheets in excel mac

Select a cell in the column you want to sort.While I use the Sort settings window to organize complicated data, I often default to using the “Sort A to Z” and “Sort Z to A” buttons when I’m working with smaller datasets, such as a list of fewer than 20 entries with 2-5 columns (e.g., a list of monthly blogs). Productivity Tip: Use Sort A to Z and Sort Z to A Buttons Click OK.Ĭlick OK in your Sort settings window, and you should see your list successfully sorted according to your desired criteria.įor instance, here’s what my sorted data looks like: If the default options don’t fit your data, you can also use “Custom List.” I’ll discuss how and why you might sort by custom list further below.

If the column contains numbers, it’ll suggest “Smallest to Largest.” But if you choose a column with letter-based values, it’ll suggest “A to Z.”Īs I’m sorting by Click Rate, I get “Smallest to Largest.” But since I want to see highly performing blogs at the top, I’ll change the order to “Largest to Smallest.” In the third section of your Sort settings window, you'll see a dropdown bar called “ Order.” Click it to select how you'd like to order your spreadsheet.īy default, your Sort settings windows will suggest sorting depending on the column content. Choose how you’d like to order your sheet. That lets me see overdue tasks at the top. I often lean on “Sort On” to sort project tasks by their statuses - completed, pending, or overdue. These options include cell color, font color, or any icon included in the cell. In the middle column of your Sort settings window, you'll see a dropdown menu called “Sort On.”Ĭlick it, and you can choose to sort your sheet by different characteristics of each cell in the column/row you're sorting by. You can sort cells by more than their value.

This sorting system doesn‘t quite make sense for my example, so we’ll stick with sorting by the Click Rate column. Once you do this, the Sort settings window will reset and ask you to choose the specific row you'd like to sort by in the leftmost dropdown (where it currently says “column'). If you'd rather sort by a specific row than a column, click “Options” at the top of the window and select “Sort left to right.” (If you’re on a Mac, you’ll find this button at the bottom of the window.) If sorting by row, click Options and select Sort left to right. If you're sorting by a specific column, click the leftmost dropdown menu - shown below “Column” - and select the column whose values you want to be your sorting criteria.

This is where you can configure what you‘d like sorted and how you’d like to sort it. If sorting by column, select the column you want to order your sheet by.Ī setting window will appear once you hit the “Sort” button. The icon has an “A-Z” graphic, as you can see below, but you can sort it in more ways than just alphabetically.ģ. This tab will expand a new set of options beneath it, where you can select the “Sort” button. Once you’ve highlighted all the data you want to sort, select the “Data” tab along the top navigation bar. Navigate to data along the top and select Sort. Otherwise, there could be a mismatch between columns when I finish sorting.Ģ. While I intend to sort this sheet by click rate to see how each blog topic is performing, I'm highlighting the other columns so every other detail about the blog topics matches the click rate entry that gets sorted. Still, I prefer doing it this way to have more control over the data I’m sorting since I’ve seen Excel include extra rows or columns that weren’t part of the original dataset. To sort a range of cells in Excel, click and drag your cursor across your spreadsheet to highlight all the cells you want to sort - even those rows and columns whose values you're not sorting.Įxcel usually detects the datasets I want to sort even if I don’t do this and just select a cell inside the dataset. Highlight the rows and/or columns you want to be sorted. I’ll be using Microsoft Excel 365 for Windows in this guide, but the steps will be similar for previous Office versions and Microsoft Excel for Mac.ġ. While all of these features let you organize your data, I prefer using the “ Sort” tool because it sorts the data without adding any extra elements. You can use “ Sort,” add a “ Filter,” or turn your dataset into a “ Table.”

Productivity Tip: Use Sort A to Z and Sort Z to A ButtonsĪs a professional spreadsheet software, Excel offers several ways to sort data.

Let me walk you through the different ways you can sort in Excel so you can start using Excel like a pro. Excel is powerful, and its sorting function can simplify your data-sorting workflow. While Excel and its data-sorting methods have improved over the years, using it can still prove overwhelming to some.īut don't let Excel intimidate you.

Shortcut to switch between sheets in excel mac