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(2023 Updated) How to Sort Data in Google Sheets by Column

Sorting data in Google Sheets is an essential task for anyone who deals with data analysis or manipulation. Whether you're a student, a business professional, or just someone who loves to organize data, sorting data in Google Sheets can help you get the insights you need quickly and easily.

In this tutorial, we'll guide you through the process of sorting data in Google Sheets by column. We'll start with the basics and then move on to more advanced sorting options. By the end of this tutorial, you'll be a Google Sheets sorting expert!

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Steps to Sort Data in Google Sheets by Column

Step 1: Open Google Sheets and Load Your Data

The first step in sorting data in Google Sheets is to open the Google Sheets app and load the data you want to sort. You can do this by creating a new sheet or opening an existing one. Once you have your sheet open, you should see your data in rows and columns.

Step 2: Select the Column You Want to Sort

The next step is to select the column you want to sort. To do this, simply click on the column letter at the top of the column you want to sort. This will select the entire column. Select the Column to Sort

Step 3: Click on the "Data" Menu

Once you've selected the column you want to sort, click on the "Data" menu at the top of the screen. From there, move down to "Sort to Sheet". You can sort by values, A-Z or Z-A.

select "Sort sheet by column." This will bring up a window with sorting options.

Sort Sheet by Column

You can right-click on the selected column and choose Sort by A-Z or Z-A.

sort-sheet-by-column-right-click

Advanced Sorting Options

While the basic sorting options covered in the previous steps will be sufficient for most users, Google Sheets also offers more advanced sorting options for those who need them.

Discover and extract patterns from text with RATH

Besides manually sorting and selecting texts from a spreadsheet, you can use the text patterns extraction feature from RATH (opens in a new tab), to automatically select a string from your Excel/CSV file, together with a Regular Expression generated for the selected text.

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Open up the free RATH (opens in a new tab) demo. On the Data Source tab, discover and extract text patterns with RATH's efficient and time-saving feature. With RATH, you don't need to manually identify and extract text patterns or design suitable algorithms. Highlight the text you want to extract and let RATH suggest related regular expressions on the right side of the screen. It's that simple!

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Sort by Color

If you've highlighted cells with different colors, you can sort by color. To do this, click on the "Data" menu, select "Sort sheet by column," and then select "Sort by color." You can then choose which color you want to sort by.

Sort by Date

If you're working with dates, you can sort by date. To do this, select the column you want to sort by and click on the "Data" menu. From there, select "Sort sheet by column," and then select "Sort by date." You can then choose the order in which you want to sort your dates.

Sort by Text

If you're working with text, you can sort by text. To do this, select the column you want to sort by and click on the "Data" menu. From there, select "Sort sheet by column," and then select "Sort by text." You can then choose the order in which you want to sort your text.

Tip: RATH has much more advanced features than extracting text strings. For example, RATH is equipped with NLP to automatically scan your text, understand your intent and generate results. You can check out the RATH Docs for more details.

Conclusion

Sorting data in Google Sheets is a simple process that can help you organize and analyze your data quickly and easily. By following the steps outlined in this tutorial, you'll be able to sort your data by column like a pro.

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