How to Alphabetize In Google Sheets : The Easy Steps 2022

Written by Amy Brink Technically reviewed by Channa S Bandara.
Publish Date : March 13, 2021 | Review Date : March 15, 2021
Last Updated : May 31, 2021

Google Sheet, Spread Sheet

in google sheets offer ton of way to optimize and analysis your data to to get correct business decision. data sorting is one of important way to reorganize large set of data sheet. in google sheet offer different type of sorting way for significant purpose.
alphabetize in google sheets in really useful for reorder data for stockholders perspective. you can organize your data single-column, multi-column and apply any conditional formatting base you requirement.

About this Article

In this article, we focus 4 different way to implement alphabetize sort data in alphabetical your data in Google Sheets 2021 latest update.

Type of sorting methods in google sheets

When sorting your spreadsheet data, you can use three types of sorting ways. your sorting formula will change be base on user perspective.

Sort sheet: If you plan to organize your all data into a single column. Sort sheets can be used easily. This can be also used with multiple columns but all sheet data will organize based on 1st column alphabetical order. This method doesn’t have the option to freeze the header row, so you have to ignore the header row manually when organizing sheet data for the sort sheet method.
Sort range: This can be used for a particular range instead of the entire spreadsheet. This really helps when working with multiple tables and sorting with specific combinations. It allows you to freeze the header row, apply multiple column combinations for sorting.
Sort filter: You can use data filter opinion for sorting. But it doesn’t have to implement a multi-sorting sorting range like sort range. But you can implement a filter method base on the filter result. For example, if you need to filter greater than 65 marks which gets Anne for each subject first you can filter Anne from the student list then add filter condition (greater than 65) in the marking column. This is the next level.

How to sort a single column alphabetize in Google Sheets

Sort without row header

In our example one of our clients has a list of names in one column, it doesn't have a column header. He needs to sort the alphabetize, list of names in columns. Let's check how to make it with an easy step.

Download Example Sheet

To sort a sheet: without row header

Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
To Highlight cells you’d like to sort areas, Click column data areas that need to sort and press Ctrl + A in windows or CMD + A in mac OS.
Then move your mouse pointer to the top of navigation and click Data ( middle of Format and Tool navigation link ).
Then in Data > Dropdown navigation, you can see a bunch of options.
- Sort Sheet by Column A, A — Z A — Z ( ascending )
- Sort Sheet by Column A, Z — A (descending )
- Select Sort Range by Column A, A — Z ascending )
- Select Sort Range by Column A, Z — A (descending )
Selected your preferred sorting option ( recommend Sort Range) .

Sort sheet means your sorting selection will affect an entire sheet. Sort Range mean your sorting selection affected for selected area only.

To sort a Range: without row header

Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
To Highlight cells you’d like to sort areas, Click column data areas that need to sort and press Ctrl + A in windows or CMD + A in mac OS.
Then move your mouse pointer to the top of navigation and click Data ( middle of Format and Tool navigation link ).
Select Data > Sort Range
Then sorting dialog box appears and chooses Sort by A — Z ( ascending ) or Z — A ( descending ) using the radio button.
Click the sort button and the sorting dialog box will automatically close.

To create a Filter: without row header

Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
Select first-row to right-click and select > insert 1 above: this empty row will be used for apply filter operation. Otherwise, it will apply a data row and it will ignore when it executes the sorting filter.
To Highlight cells you’d like to sort, move the mouse column header and click.
Then move your mouse pointer to the top of navigation and click Data ( middle of Format and Tool navigation link ) > create a filter.
Filter icon will apply a top row of the selected column.
Click the filter icon at top of the row then open the filter drop down.
Choose Sort by A — Z ( ascending ) or Z — A ( descending ).

Sort with row header

In our example above same sheet, our client adds the header row (name as Student name). He needs to sort the alphabetically list of names in columns. header row will not be included in the sort

Download Example Sheet

To sort a range: Sort with row header

Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
To Highlight cells you’d like to sort areas, Click column data areas that need to sort and press Ctrl + A in windows or CMD + A in mac OS.
Then Move your mouse point to the top of navigation and click Data ( middle of Format and Tool navigation link ).
Select Data > Sort Range.
Then Sorting dialog box appears and checked data has header row checkbox.
Select header row in sort by dropdown Choose Sort by A — Z ( ascending ) or Z — A ( descending ) using the radio button.
Click sort button and the sorting dialog box will automatically close.

To create a filter: Sort with header

Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
To Highlight cells you’d like to sort, click column data and press Ctrl + A in windows or CMD + A in mac OS.
Then Move your mouse point to the top of navigation and click Data ( middle of Format and Tool navigation link ) > create a filter.
Filter icon will apply a top row of selected column head of the row.
Click the filter icon at top of the row then open the filter dialog box.
Choose Sort by A — Z ( ascending ) or Z — A ( descending ).

How to sort multi-column alphabetize in Google Sheets

Sort with multiple column

In our example, a school tutor has a list of Student's exam mark spreadsheets. That spreadsheet includes 3 columns. Each column has a header row used to identify the name of each column (Student name, major subject, mark). Each student has multiple subjects with marks. Our client needs to sort the alphabetically list of Student names into columns. Also, he needs to arrange the highest to lowest each subject mark based on the sorted student.

Download Example Sheet

To sort a range:

Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
Click column data areas and press Ctrl + A in windows or CMD + A in mac OS.
Then Move your mouse point to the top of navigation and click Data ( middle of Format and Tool navigation link ).
Select Data > Sort Range.
Then the sorting dialog box appears and checked data has a header row checkbox.
Select the Student Name column from sort by dropdown & Choose A — Z ( ascending ) radio button.
Click Add another sort column button.
Select the Mark column from sort by dropdown .
Choose Z — A ( descending ) radio button.
Click the sort button and the sorting dialog box will automatically close.

To create filter:

Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets.
Click column data areas and press Ctrl + A in windows or CMD + A in mac OS.
Then Move your mouse point to the top of navigation and click Data ( middle of Format and Tool navigation link ) > create a filter.
Filter icon will apply to the top row of the selected column head of the row.
This is important: first, you need to identify which column needs to filter. Based on the above example we need to sort highest to lower exam marks based on student name alphabetic order.
1. First, you need to arrange a mark in descending order then group by name. so, move your mouse pointer to the Mark row filter icon & click. press sort Z — A in the filter dropdown. Now all data will be ordered based on the descending mark.
  1. Then move your mouse pointer to the student name column and click the filter icon then press sort A — Z in the filter dropdown. Now your datasheet will arrange the highest to lowest mark based on alphabetic student name order.

How to sort alphabetize in Google Sheet – using mobile ( android or apple )

In google sheet the mobile app doesn’t have some advanced features which already have in desktop applications.

Open a spreadsheet in Google Sheets app on your android/tablet or Apple phone/tablet.
select a column (with header row) you want to short or select all column which exists data (with header row).
Tap More ( three dot icon in android / arrow-right icon in apple ) and open navigation.
Select Create a filter option in navigation.
You can see on the top of the column (header row) will enable a filter icon.
Click Tab filter icon which you want to sort column.
Tap SORT A-Z or SORT Z-A. Your data will be sorted.

Make sure to organize your working sheet very clearly if you have to deal with a large level data set. Also always create a backup in your local PC or google drive, before starting to deal with sorting. It will really help to recover data without hassle.

This is all about A to Z sorting alphabetize in google sheet. You can easily organize your working sheet matter with google sheet. This 100% free of charge cloud software doesn’t need to do anything to get the latest update.

Conclusion

Past few years google sheet is very popular among freelancers, account auditors,s and spreadsheet relatest industries. Because it is a 100% free cloud platform and maintained by Google. Google sheet sort is a very common function and there are various ways to implement that. In early versions, it dealt with queries, but modern google sheets offer a very easy way. Sort sheet, sort range, and sort filter are most popular among google sheet users.