Microsoft Excel 2007 The L Line The Express Line to Learning L Line © Wiley Publishing. 2007. All Rights Reserved.

10 Sorting and Filtering Data Stations Along the Way Understanding why you should sort or filter your data Sorting your data Filtering your data Organizing your data in other ways

Sorting vs. Filtering Sorting worksheet data Filtering worksheet data Includes the entire data set Presents an organized view of data Filtering worksheet data Displays a subset of data Shows records that answer a question

Sorting Basics All data remains visible Sort on one or more levels Sort in a specified order Ascending (A to Z; smallest to largest) Descending (Z to A; largest to smallest) Highlight top and bottom results Show geographic distributions

The Sort Commands Located on Home tab (Editing group) or Data tab (Sort & Filter group) Commands vary based on type of selected data The Custom Sort command provides additional sorting options You can sort by values, cell color, font color, cell icon, or custom lists

Filtering Basics Filters display only data that meets the specified criteria Other data is hidden from view You can use quick filter arrow to specify filter You can apply more filters to filtered data to narrow the results

The Filter Commands Located on Home tab (Editing group) or Data tab (Sort & Filter group) Advanced command provides additional filtering options Filter a list in place Copy filtered list to another location or worksheet Display unique records only

Organizing Assorted Data Grouping, also called outlining, is another way to organize Excel data Combination of filtering and sorting Cannot group or outline data that has been changed to a table Each row must be labeled No blank lines in the data set

Discussion Questions What is the difference between sorting data and filtering data? What is the biggest advantage to sorting data? Can you sort by elements other than numbers?

Discussion Questions (cont.) Can you sort by more than one field at a time? What is the biggest advantage to filtering data? When you add a filter to your data, does it remove the previous filter?