Basic Sorts![[basic sorts]](basicsort.gif)
To execute a basic descending or ascending sort, select the cells to
be sorted and click the Sort Ascending (A-Z) button or
Sort Descending
(Z-A) button on the standard toolbar. The data will be sorted by the first
column in the selection.
Complex Sorts
To do multiple sorts by multiple columns, follow these steps:
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Highlight the cells, rows, or columns that will be sorted.
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From the Data menu, select Sort.
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From the Sort dialog box, select the
first column for sorting from the Sort By drop-down menu and choose
either ascending or descending.
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Select the second column and, if necessary, the third sort column from
the Then By drop-down menus.
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If the cells you highlighted included the text headings in the first row,
mark My list has...Header row and the first row will remain
at the top of the worksheet.
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If the cells you highlighted do not include the text headings in
the first row, mark My list has... No Header row
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Click OK to execute the sort.
Open a new Worksheet and type in the following
data. |
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In the Data menu, select Sort.
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In the top scroll-down menu, select "Column H". This will sort the data
first by last name.
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In the middle scroll-down menu, select "Column J". This will sort the data
next by gender.
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In the bottom scroll-down menu, select "Column I". This will sort the data
next by first name.
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The sorted data will now appear sorted by last names.
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Each of the last names will be sorted by gender.
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Within each grouping for last name and gender, each record will be sorted
by first name.
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Fill Down and Fill Right
This feature allows you to fill cells with repetitive values, formulas
or repeated text.
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Open a new Worksheet in A1 enter "1".
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In A2 enter "=A1+5"
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Select cells A2:A10. From the Edit menu, select Fill / Down.
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In B2 enter "=A1+2"
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Select cells B2:G2. From the Edit menu, select Fill / Right
The Autofill feature provides much of the same functionality as
"Fill Down" or "Fill Right".
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Type the first two cells of an incrementing series of numbers or dates.
Select both cells
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Place the cursor over the handle at the bottom, right corner. Hold down
the left mouse button and drag down over as many cells as you want to fill.
Release the mouse button.
Autofilling Functions
Autofill can also be used to copy functions. In this
example, column A and column B each contain lists of numbers and column
C contains the sums of columns A and B for each row. The function in cell
C2 would be "=SUM(A2:B2)". This function can then be copied to the remaining
cells of column C by activating cell C2 and dragging the handle down to
fill in the remaining cells. The autofill feature will automatically update
the row numbers as shown if the cells are reference
relatively.
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