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Excel Basics · Interactive lesson 7 of 12

Sort & filter

A dataset is only useful if you can find what you need in it. Sorting reorders the rows; filtering just hides the ones that don't match — either way, nothing gets deleted or moved permanently.

BeginnerInteractive

Screens shown: Excel for Microsoft 365 for Windows. Practice works in any browser.

Written tutorialHow to Sort and Filter Data in Excel

Skill check

Try these first:

  • Sort a table A–Z by name.
  • Sort a table largest to smallest by a number column.
  • Filter a table to show only one category.
  • Filter a number column to only show values above a threshold.

All familiar? Skip ahead to M8 — Excel Tables.

Teach

What you're learning

Sort A–Z
Alphabetical order for text, ascending order for numbers.
Sort largest to smallest
Descending order — highest value first.
Filter by category
Show only rows matching one value in a text column, without touching the rest of the data.
Number filters
Show only rows where a number column is greater than, less than, or between certain values.

Where to find it in Excel

Data›Sort & Filter

Swipe sideways to see the whole window.

  1. 1Data tab (Home › Sort & Filter has the same commands).
  2. 2Quick sort: A→Z or Z→A on the column you clicked.
  3. 3Sort opens a dialog for sorting by several columns.
  4. 4Filter (Ctrl+Shift+L) adds the arrows to the header row.
  5. 5Click an arrow to sort or to show only some values.

Rendered view of Excel for Microsoft 365 (Windows). Ribbon layout can differ slightly on Mac, Excel for the web or a narrow window.

Guided practice

Click a column header to sort, or use the controls below to filter by department or a minimum salary — exactly what the practice exercise asks for.

🎓 Employee Roster — click a header, or filter below
NameDeptSalary
Click "Salary" to sort largest to smallest, or set a minimum salary to filter the list.
Tip: always select your whole table before sorting in real Excel — sorting just one column shuffles it out of sync with the rest of each row.

Real-world exercise

Answer four real questions

Using the roster above (or your own), answer each of these using only sort and filter — no formulas needed:

  1. Who are the employees, alphabetized by name?
  2. Who earns the most, and who earns the least?
  3. Show only the Engineering department.
  4. Show only employees earning above a threshold you choose.

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