Sorting Pivot Table Field Values in Excel

Watch this short video lesson as I demonstrate how easy it is to sort the values in a Pivot Table field to suit your needs. For example, you can arrange the months in the year to match your Fiscal Year.

It is amazing to see how much flexibility you have when sorting Field Values in a Pivot Table. One tip is to simply "type in" the field value where you want it placed and Excel rearranges all of the values in that field!


Danny Rocks
The Company Rocks

[DannyRocksExcels]

Hi Brad -

Thanks for contacting me. I am pleased that my video is exactly what you are looking for.

Re: Grayed Out Group Field. Before you Group a Field, select a SINGLE Cell in that field. I suspect that you selected multiple cells first and that is why Group Field was not available.

Selecting multiple cells implies that you want to Group the Selection - which I generally do NOT recommend.

Danny Rocks
The Company Rocks

[DannyRocksExcels]

Thank you! I am pleased that you enjoyed my Excel Tutorial.

Thanks for adding your feedback.

Danny Rocks
The Company Rocks

[wgibso]

Thanks! Microsoft's documentation was no help at all, and your video solved my problem in a minute flat.

[DannyRocksExcels]

Thank you! It is my pleasure - in any language, including Portuguese!

I am happy that I could help you with my Excel Tutorial.

Danny Rocks
The Company Rocks

[hallofo]

Most excellent, I couldn't get a custom sorting option to work properly on a P-Table until you brought out the "move" option.

[ricknogan]

Hey Danny,

Thanks for the reply, my question is actually about how to sort the values - so in this case - most sales to least sales by category.

So in that example at 4:33-4:36 - the heading 'North' would have hosting at the top, followed by support, hardware, and software at the bottom.

[yink]

That's pretty neat, you really do rock.

[DannyRocksExcels]

@dwheavyd
Thanks! Yes, it is absolutely amazing that you can simply "type a name" and the Pivot Table will resort by that position!

There is always something new to learn in Excel.

Danny Rocks
The Company Rocks

[DannyRocksExcels]

@wgibso
My pleasure. Thanks for writing to tell me how I helped you.

Please tell your friends and colleagues about my Excel videos and how they can help you to quickly get the answers that you need in just a few minutes.

As a matter of fact, I am using a new "tag line" for my resources, "Master Excel in Minutes - Not Months!"

Sincerely,
Danny Rocks
The Company Rocks

[alv]

How do you do multiple custom lists for rows, columns and slicers? These would also have multiple slicers

[Luciano_mp]

Excelente dica, muito obrigado Danny.

[DannyRocksExcels]

@liverpoola61
I am sorry that you were disappointed in this video.

Thank you for adding your comment.

Danny Rocks
The Company Rocks

[DarrellWade]

Nice tip on just typing the name ... I didn't know that one.

[joeman]

Hi Danny. Is there any way to sort the pivot by the value field? I mean the field present in the area called "Values"?

[stansnyder]

Danny - awesome work! I wonder, is there a way to sort the summed values in a pivot table? I'm trying to group usage data to redesign the way something is distributed. In my example, the pivot table produces some summed values and many blanks. I dont need to necessarily sort them ascending or descending, but I am actually trying to group the fileds that have values together, separately from the blanks. Thank you!

[DannyRocksExcels]

As I understand your question, you need to FIRST create a "custom list" as I demonstrate earlier in my tutorial. Custom Lists are easy to create and they are available for any existing or future Excel Workbooks on your CURRENT COMPUTER. Yes, they are "computer specific."

I encourage you to watch my tutorial a second time to see how to create - and use - a Custom List for your sorting.

Danny Rocks
The Company Rocks

[bradswenson]

I am trying to sort a data list by dates (month) in a pivot table but my "group field" is grayed out. This video is exactly what i want to do, but i am unable to select the "group field" icon. any suggestions?

thanks

[ricknogan]

Hi Danny,

Great video! In this video at 4:36, how would you sort the values (sum of sales) to be sorted in descending order?

Using the numbers in your video it would read:

North
Hosting 115598
Support 57091
Hardware 30619
Software 9395

South
Hosting 74778
Support 59439
Hardware 34756
Software 7627

East
Hosting 77589
Software 55626
Support 41119
Hardware 9733

West
Hosting 91073
Hardware 65283
Software 63704
Support 54564

[ianplayin]

"I'm Danny rOcKs" lmfaoooo