Sorting Columns in Excel

Let's go through the steps of sorting columns in Excel. You typed in a list of names and realized you forgot to alphabetize them. 

Here we have a list of names, cities, and states that are not alphabetized.

We are going to sort by last name.

Highlight all columns you have on your spreadsheet. In this case, we are using A, B, C, D, E.

It is important to highlight all columns unless there are columns you do not wish to have sorted with that item. 

If you do not highlight all columns and you sort, it will only sort that column and will not move all other information associated with that person, city, or state.

Since we want the numbers to stay in order of 1-20, we can leave out column A. 

In the toolbar, we are going to click on Sort & Filter. Then click on Custom Sort.

This box will pop up.

Click  Sort by. Click Last Name. Click OK.

You have successfully alphabetized by last name!