The most accessible way to sort data in tables is the Excel spreadsheet editor from the Microsoft Office suite of applications. Its tools for ordering values in rows and columns are fairly easy to use and allow you to construct fairly complex sorting rules.
Necessary
Microsoft Excel 2007 Spreadsheet Editor
Instructions
Step 1
Right-click any cell in a column if you want to sort the table data by the values of this particular column. In the appeared context menu, open the "Sorting" section and select the desired direction of data sorting. If this column contains text values, then sorting "smallest to largest" means alphabetical ordering. If dates are placed in the cells of this column, this will mean sorting from the earliest dates to the later ones.
Step 2
In a similar way, you can sort the data by different signs of cell design, and not by the values they contain. To do this, there are three context menu items that allow you to arrange data in accordance with the background color of the cells, the thickness and color of the font. You can also sort by icons that can be placed in the cells of the column.
Step 3
If you need to sort a table by data from several columns, you can sequentially perform this procedure for each of them. However, Excel has an option that allows you to specify the order and sorting sequence of the required columns in one common dialog. To open this dialog, right-click any cell in the table, expand the Sorting section and select Custom Sorting.
Step 4
Select the first column to sort from the Sort By drop-down list. In the field to the right, specify what exactly this sorting rule should be applied to - the values or formats of the cell (color, font, icon). In the last dropdown list, select the sorting direction. This completes the setting of rules for one column.
Step 5
Click the Add Level button to proceed to customize the sorting options for the next column. One more line will be added to the already completed line and you will need to repeat what was done in the previous step for the second column. If there are more than two sorting rules, keep adding and filling in the lines as many times as needed.
Step 6
For each table, you can specify up to 64 rules in a complex sort set. This is usually more than enough for data that has to be processed in Excel spreadsheets. If the need arises for even more complex rules for ordering values in tables, then it is better to use more powerful database applications. In the Microsoft Office package, the Access DBMS is designed for this.
