How to Sort and Use the Auto Sum Feature in Microsoft Excel

Microsoft Excel is one of the most used software applications for spreadsheet editing. Compared to a third party solution, it has the advantage that it comes along with the Microsoft Office suit and although it is one of the most powerful and features rich programs available, it is relatively easy to learn and use. Many people run away at first when they see the multiple menus and features Microsoft Excel has, but things are not that complicated. Because it is part of Microsoft Office, some of the menus ad features are common to all Office programs. This means that if you have worked with another Office application before (such of Microsoft Word), you will find many of the menus familiar (especially those related to opening a new work sheet, to saving files, to printing the spreadsheets and other similar actions). However, its main purpose is to create complex spreadsheets, calculations and graphs so may of these actions might be new for you.

It is a common situation that you have worked on a worksheet with multiple columns and rows, but you may want to organize them. Microsoft Excel offers you a series of sorting tools, some more basic, some more complexes. The Basic Sorts in Excel can be performed by clicking the two buttons for this task (the one that has the letters “A” and “Z”) and two types or arrows (descending or ascending). You need to highlight the cells that you need sorted out and then click the button for the sorting type you need (ascending: A-Z or descending: Z - A).

However, Microsoft Excel also offers you other, more complex sorting algorithms. You can, for example, sort by multiple columns. As with the basic sorting, select the items you need to sort (cells, columns or rows). Next, select the Data > Sort option that you will find in the menu bar. When the sort dialog box has appeared, you need to select the first column for sorting from the Sort By drop-down menu and choose either ascending or descending. If you have more than one columns, select the second one and the third one and so on from the Then By menu. If the cells you highlighted included the text headings in the first row, mark My list has…Header row and the first row will remain at the top of the worksheet. Excel offers you the ability to order by specific options, such as the moths of the year or the days of the week. To do this, you need to click the Options button for spherical non-alphabetic or numeric sorts. You can also make your sort case sensitive. After you have customized your sort method, click the OK button to instruct the program to do the sort.

Another important feature pf Microsoft Excel is the Autosum feature. By using auto sum, you can add the he contents of a cluster of adjacent cells. First, you need to select the cell for the result to appear in. Remember, this cell has to be outside of the group of class whose values you will be adding. Click the auto sum button (you will find this function represented by the Greek letter sigma in the program’s toolbar) and select the cells you need added. After you hit the enter key, the program will automatically make the sum of the selected cells. This feature greatly eases you job when you have to add the content of multiple cells in a long column or row.