How to Sort Data with the SORT Function in Excel

Create sorted copies of a table that stay up to date — by one column, by two columns, or after filtering.

You will learn to

• Sort a table by one column in descending order
• Sort by two columns with different directions
• Sort the output of FILTER

How it works

SORT(array, [sort_index], [sort_order]) returns a sorted copy of a range without touching the original. =SORT(A2:C10,3,-1) sorts by the third column, largest first; leave the arguments out to sort by the first column, A to Z. Because it is a formula, the sorted list updates whenever the data changes.

To sort by more than one column, pass array constants: =SORT(A2:C10,{2,3},{1,-1}) sorts by department A–Z and, within each department, by amount from highest to lowest. Wrap FILTER inside SORT to sort only the rows you need.

=SORT(A2:C10,3,-1)