Mastering the Art of Sorting in Excel

Unlock the full potential of your data management skills with Mastering the Art of Sorting in Excel. While sorting data may seem like a straightforward task, spreadsheet consultant David Ringstrom, CPA, reveals that there are surprising nuances and powerful techniques that go far beyond the standard A-to-Z command. This course is designed to transform a historically manual process into a streamlined, automated workflow, allowing you to rearrange data with precision and efficiency.

Starting with the essentials, this training lays the groundwork for sorting on single and multiple columns before diving into advanced capabilities. You will explore how to organize data based on visual cues like cell color and conditional formatting icons, as well as how to perform horizontal sorting to rearrange columns across rows. The course also covers the creation and application of custom lists, enabling you to sort data in non-alphabetical orders, such as by month, day of the week, or specific business hierarchies. Furthermore, you will navigate the specific behaviors of sorting within Pivot Tables and learn how to enable sorting on protected worksheets.

For users of modern Excel versions, this course introduces powerful dynamic array functions and automation tools. You will learn to utilize worksheet functions like SORT, SORTBY, and UNIQUE to create self-updating lists that respond instantly to data changes. Finally, the course concludes with a deep dive into Power Query, demonstrating how to connect to data sources and automate complex row and column sorting without manual intervention.

Key topics covered in this course include:

• Sorting lists based on single columns, multiple columns, cell colors, and conditional formatting icons.
• Executing horizontal sorts to rearrange column orders efficiently instead of moving columns manually.
• Creating and utilizing Custom Lists to sort data in logical, non-alphabetical orders.
• Managing case-sensitive sorting and creating user-friendly sorting options on protected worksheets.
• Understanding the nuances of sorting data within Pivot Tables and controlling global options.
• Utilizing dynamic array functions such as SORT and UNIQUE in Microsoft 365 and Excel 2021.
• Automating repetitive sorting tasks using Power Query to transform and organize data sources automatically.

Join this course to move beyond simple data organization and master the advanced tools that will save you time and ensure data integrity across your spreadsheets.