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Sorting selected rows

I recently got a Mac and now I'm using Numbers instead of Excel.

In Excel you could easily select the rows you wanted to be sorted and do it, but when I try the same in Numbers it also sorts other rows that I haven't selected. These rows were already sorted but will now be completely resorted in a very wrong, and at first glance illogical, way. I admit I get frustrated easily but it annoys me that it doesn't just sort the selected rows when that is the very option I choose.

How do I sort only the selected rows and not the entire spreadsheet? What I'm doing is I go to organize -> sort -> sort selected rows and then add a column to it to sort on.

MacBook Air 13″, macOS 11.3

Posted on Aug 19, 2021 3:10 AM

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35,972 points

Posted on Aug 19, 2021 5:14 AM

I can't reproduce what you describe. Sort Selected Rows seems to be working as expected here.

Starting with this table:

I Add a Column for the sort:

Getting this:

That is the exact same result as in Excel.

If you want to sort just some of the cells in column A without affecting column B then you can do this:

Select the cells in column A that you want to sort:

Hold down the mouse button and drag them onto the canvas of the sheet, where they will automatically form their own separate table:

Sort that table:

Select the cells in that table and drag them back into position in the original table.

The result:

This sounds complicated but it's actually quick and easy. I find it more convenient than the interface in Excel.

SG

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Top-ranking reply

Level 8

35,972 points

Aug 19, 2021 5:14 AM in response to FrustratedMark1

I can't reproduce what you describe. Sort Selected Rows seems to be working as expected here.

Starting with this table:

I Add a Column for the sort:

Getting this:

That is the exact same result as in Excel.

If you want to sort just some of the cells in column A without affecting column B then you can do this:

Select the cells in column A that you want to sort:

Hold down the mouse button and drag them onto the canvas of the sheet, where they will automatically form their own separate table:

Sort that table:

Select the cells in that table and drag them back into position in the original table.

The result:

This sounds complicated but it's actually quick and easy. I find it more convenient than the interface in Excel.

SG

Reply

Sorting selected rows

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