Sort by more than one column or row

You may want to sort by more than one column or row when you have data that you want to group by the same value in one column or row, and then sort another column or row within that group of equal values. For example, if you have a Department column and an Employee column, you can first sort by Department (to group all the employees in the same department together), and then sort by name (to put the names in alphabetical order within each department). You can sort by up to 64 columns.

Note: For best results, the range of cells that you sort should have column headings.

1. Select a range of cells with two or more columns of data, or make sure that the active cell is in a table with two or more columns.
2. On the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Sort.
3. Under Column, in the Sort by box, select the first column that you want to sort.
4. Under Sort On, select the type of sort. Do one of the following:
* To sort by text, number, or date and time, select Values.
* To sort by format, select Cell Color, Font Color, or Cell Icon.
5. Under Order, select how you want to sort. Do one of the following:
* For text values, select A to Z or Z to A.
* For number values, select Smallest to Largest or Largest to Smallest.
* For date or time values, select Oldest to Newest or Newest to Oldest.
* To sort based on a custom list, select Custom List.
6. To add another column to sort by, click Add Level, and then repeat steps three through five.
7. To copy a column to sort by, select the entry and then click Copy Level.
8. To delete a column to sort by, select the entry and then click Delete Level.

Note: You must keep at least one entry in the list.

9. To change the order in which the columns are sorted, select an entry and then click the Up or Down arrow to change the order.  Entries higher in the list are sorted before entries lower in the list.
10. To reapply a sort after you change the data, click a cell in the range or table and then, on the Data tab, in the Sort & Filter group, click Reapply.