Sorting a multi column list in Excel

I have a list of 568 Items in a column in Excel. I am using 2007. I know it is not important but I have them in column C.

In column D, E, F, G, I will have the following. I am listing this in case order will somehow make the sort easier.

The next columns will have Date, event code, frequency, and complete, for incomplete I will leave that field blank.

I will not ever need to sort by the Items (the things in column C) I will need to sort by Date, Later I will need to sort by the Event Code, I may or may not need to sort by frequency, and I may or may not need to sort by Complete.

How do I go about setting this up to sort the rows?

Select one cell in your data.

Data tab > Sort & Filter group > Sort
will allow you to sort.

However, if you use
Data tab > Sort & Filter group > Filter
you get drop-down arrows at the top of each column, and there's a sort option on that.

Originally Posted by outofthehat

Select one cell in your data.

Data tab > Sort & Filter group > Sort
will allow you to sort.

However, if you use
Data tab > Sort & Filter group > Filter
you get drop-down arrows at the top of each column, and there's a sort option on that.

That is all I need to do? That sounds pretty easy.

My worry is it would break up the data in the rows unless I let it somehow know the rows are to stay as an intact unit?

Will give it a try when I get all the data in place.

Thanks

Yup, that's all. Excel's pretty smart at identifying blocks of data and applying sorts to the whole row.

Just make sure you don't have blank columns/rows in the data, as it'll only sort up to those. (You CAN have blank cells in a column, as long as each column has a title).

Also be warned that if you select more than one cell, it'll only sort the selection.

Originally Posted by outofthehat

Yup, that's all. Excel's pretty smart at identifying blocks of data and applying sorts to the whole row.

Just make sure you don't have blank columns/rows in the data, as it'll only sort up to those. (You CAN have blank cells in a column, as long as each column has a title).

Also be warned that if you select more than one cell, it'll only sort the selection.

Thanks, it worked.

It took all night long to get the data posted into the cells but sorting took seconds. This helped a bunch.