Google Sheets offers a myriad of tools for effective data management, including the ability to sort data. However, there might be times when you want to keep the rows of data together while sorting. This blog post will guide you on how to accomplish this.
Why keep rows together?
Each row in your Google Sheets might represent a distinct set of data points that are interconnected. For instance, if you’re working with a client database, each row might contain a client’s name, their contact details, and the services they’ve availed. Sorting by a single column could disrupt the relationship between these data points. Hence, there’s a need to keep the rows together when sorting.
Keeping Rows Together When Sorting
Here’s a step-by-step guide:
- Open your Google Sheets document.
- Select the range of cells you want to sort.
- Click on the ‘Data’ menu.
- Click on ‘Sort range…’
Using the ‘Sort range’ dialog box
The ‘Sort range’ dialog box allows you to specify the sort criteria.
First, check the ‘Data has header row’ option if your data includes a header row. This ensures that the header row is excluded from the sort operation.
Afterwards, you can specify the column you want to sort by, and whether you want the sort to be in ascending or descending order. You can add more than one sort criterion by clicking on ‘Add another sort column’.
{
"column": "Column A",
"sort": "A -> Z",
}
Congratulations!
You’ve successfully sorted your data whilst keeping your rows intact! Remember that this method ensures that although your columns shift in their order, the relationship between the data points in your rows is preserved. This is crucial for maintaining data integrity, especially when working with complex datasets.
Happy sorting!