How to Sort in Microsoft Excel 2007

1. Open your data file in the Excel 2007 program. Place your mouse over the first letter that represents your first column (usually column A). A down-pointing arrow will appear. Left-click your mouse and hold, then drag the mouse across to select all of your columns. Let go of the mouse and look through the file to assure that all of your columns are highlighted (selected).
2. Click the 'Data' tab on the Excel 2007 main menu. Go to the 'Sort Filter' section. Click 'Sort'---a dialog box will appear.
3. Choose the column letter by which you want to sort your list under the 'Sort by' box. For instance, if you have a mailing list containing last name (as column A), first name (as column B), address (as column C) and phone number (as column D), you'll probably want to sort your list by last name (column A), so that you can refer to customers by name quickly. If you plan to call all customers within a certain area code, you'd sort the list by phone number (column D).
4. Select your 'Sort On' attribute. The choices are values, cell color, font color and cell icon. The values choice will be most commonly selected---this looks at the data inside of each cell. The other three options are format-based. For instance, if you have color-coded various cells in your list and want to display them all next to each other on the sheet, you would sort on 'cell color.' The same is the case for cell fonts and icons you have inserted into the cell using 'Conditional Formatting' (see Resources for more information on cell icons).
5. Pick the 'Order' that you want the information to sort by. For values, it is either A to Z or Z to A. For the other sort options (cell color, font, icon), you choose which color or icon you want to appear first or last and the rest will settle in between. Click 'OK' to sort the data.