The correct way to sort by color in Excel is to set the color first and then use the sorting function. First, set the color for cells manually or through conditional formatting. It is recommended to give priority to using conditional formatting to maintain uniformity and facilitate maintenance; secondly, click "Sorting and Filtering" → "Custom Sort", add levels and select "Cell Color" as the sorting basis, and set the color arrangement order to complete the sorting; finally, pay attention to ensuring that the colors are displayed correctly, avoid merging cells and non-standard colors affecting the sorting effect, and improve efficiency and security by converting data into tables, saving macros or backing up original data.

It is actually not difficult to sort by color in Excel. As long as you master the correct operation method, you can quickly organize the data order you want. The key point is: first set the color, and then process the data by color through the filter or sort function .

How to set color of a cell

To sort by color, you must first have color. You can manually fill the cells with colors or automatically color them in conditional format:

• Set the color manually: Select the cell → Click the "Fill Color" button in the "Start" tab → Select a color
• Conditional formatting color: Select area → "Start" → "Conditional formatting" → Select rule (such as "Highlight cell rules") → Select fill color when setting formatting

It is recommended to give priority to the use of conditional formats, so that the colors are more uniform and convenient for subsequent maintenance.

Specific steps to sort by color

Excel supports sorting by font color, background color or icon set. Here, take the background color as an example:

1. Select the data area (including the title row) you want to sort
2. Click Sort and Filter in the Start tab → Select Custom Sort
3. Click "Add Hierarchy" in the pop-up window
4. Select Cell Color from the Sort By drop-down menu
5. Then set the order of colors you want, such as putting red on the top first, then yellow on the top, and finally green on the top.

Note: When sorting, colors take effect according to the colors you currently see. If the colors are generated by formulas, make sure they have been displayed correctly before sorting.

FAQs and tips

Sometimes you will find that you cannot sort by color, which may be because of these reasons:

• There are merged cells in the data, which will affect the sorting function.
• The color is not a standard fill color, but a theme color or other gradient effect
• Table style is used but the Filter is not enabled

A few practical tips:

• If you often need to sort by color, you can convert the data into "table" (shortcut key Ctrl T), which will make filtering more convenient
• You can save the sorting settings into a macro and execute it with one click next time
• It is best to copy a copy of the original data before sorting to prevent troubles from recovering after misoperation.

Basically all of this is it. Sort by color, it looks advanced, but in fact the operation is not complicated. The key is to plan the color rules in advance and don’t wait until the data is messed up before thinking about sorting it out.

The above is the detailed content of how to sort by color in excel. For more information, please follow other related articles on the PHP Chinese website!