Google Sheets Sort Range By Column

Sort Range By Column

Google sheet lets you sort data in a range by columns

It is possible to sort data in a sheet by range.

The sort commands can be found in the Data menu.

Example (Sort Text)

Sort the Pokemon in the range A2:A21 by their Name, ascending from smallest to largest (A-Z).

Copy the values to follow along.

Name Bulbasaur Ivysaur Venusaur Charmander Charmeleon Charizard Squirtle Wartortle Blastoise Caterpie Metapod Butterfree Weedle Kakuna Beedrill Pidgey Pidgeotto Pidgeotto Rattata Raticate

Copy Values

1. Select the range A2:A21

2. Click on the Data menu and select Sort range by column A, A → Z

This is the result:

Example (Sort Numbers)

Sort the Pokemon ascending by their Total stats from smallest to largest.

Copy the values to follow along.

Total stats 318 405 525 309 405 534 314 405 530 195 205 395 195 205 395 251 349 479 253 413

Copy Values

1. Select the range A2:A21

2. Click on the Data menu and select Sort range by column A, A → Z

This is the result:

Great! The Pokemon were successfully sorted by their Total stats from smallest to largest. The sort commands work for both text and numbers.

A Non-Working Example (Sorting One Column In A Range)

This example shows how sorting column by range can break the relationship between multiple data columns.

In this example we have two columns with related data. Column A is the Pokemon Names and Column B is their Total stats. Try sorting just one of the columns (A2:A21) ascending by their Names.

Copy the values to follow along.

Name Total stats Bulbasaur 318 Ivysaur 405 Venusaur 525 Charmander 309 Charmeleon 405 Charizard 534 Squirtle 314 Wartortle 405 Blastoise 530 Caterpie 195 Metapod 205 Butterfree 395 Weedle 195 Kakuna 205 Beedrill 395 Pidgey 251 Pidgeotto 349 Pidgeotto 479 Rattata 253 Raticate 413

Copy Values

1. Select the range A2:A21

2. Click on the Data menu and select Sort range by column A, A → Z

This is the result:

The image above shows that the relationship between column A and B is broken. The Pokemon now have wrong Total stats.

Sorting More Than One Column

Select the whole range when sorting ranges with more than one column.

When sorting multiple columns, the sorting is done based on the column with cell having the blue rectangle. This is the cell that you start selecting your range with.

In the image below the sorting is done based on the Name values in column A

In the image below the sorting is done based on the Total stats values in column B

Example

This example shows how to sort data without losing the relationship between the data columns.

Sort the Pokemon based on their names in ascending order.

Copy the values to follow along.

Name Total stats Bulbasaur 318 Ivysaur 405 Venusaur 525 Charmander 309 Charmeleon 405 Charizard 534 Squirtle 314 Wartortle 405 Blastoise 530 Caterpie 195 Metapod 205 Butterfree 395 Weedle 195 Kakuna 205 Beedrill 395 Pidgey 251 Pidgeotto 349 Pidgeotto 479 Rattata 253 Raticate 413

Copy Values

1. Select the range A2:B21

2. Click on the Data menu and select Sort range by column A, A → Z

This is the result:

By selecting range A2:B21 the sort is done correctly, keeping the relationship between the data (Column A and B).

Now try to sort Pokemon based on their total stats in a descending order.