Organize the Data

In the previous chapter, we explored powerful formulas like SUMIF(), logical functions, and QUERY() to help us analyze, filter, and summarize data. These tools gave us a lot of flexibility and control, but they also required writing formulas and knowing how different functions work together.

But what if we want to explore or narrow down our data without writing any complex formulas? What if we could quickly sort, filter, or view specific parts of the data with just a few clicks?

That’s exactly what this lesson is about. We’ll use Google Sheets’ built-in features, like sort, filter, and filter views, to organize and explore data more easily. These tools may seem simple, but they’re incredibly helpful, especially when we’re dealing with large datasets or working with a team.

Let’s begin by learning how to sort data, an essential first step that helps us quickly organize information and spot key trends.

Sorting data

Sorting is the process of arranging data in a specific order, either ascending or descending. It’s one of the quickest ways to bring structure to a chaotic dataset. There are two main ways to sort in Google Sheets, outlined below.

1. Sort sheet: This sorts the entire sheet based on the selected column.

2. Sort range: This sorts only a specific range of cells. This is safer when we don’t want to accidentally reorder data in other parts of our sheet.

Let’s start with the “Sort sheet” option, which is the fastest way to sort our entire dataset.

1. First, click any cell in the column (say, Column C) that we want to use to sort the entire sheet.

2. Then, go to the “Data” tab in the menu and select “Sort sheet.” ...