Skip to main content

Kutools for Office — One Suite. Five Tools. Get More Done.

How to sort values ignore zeros in Excel?

Author Sun Last modified

If there is a list of values including zero values, in general, when you sort the values ascendingly, the zero values will be sorted as the first one, but in some cases, you just want to sort the numbers ignoring the zeros which means to sort the zeros at the bottom as below screenshot shown. In this article, I introduce a trick to handle this job.
sort normally sort values ignore zeros

Sort values ignore zeros with a helper column

arrow blue right bubble Sort values ignore zeros with a helper column

To sort values ignore zeros, you need to create a helper column and apply a formula.

1. Select a blank cell next to the data, B2 for example, and enter this formula, =IF(A2=0,"",A2), drag fill handle down to apply this formula to the cells you need. Then if the relative cell contains zero, the formula cell will return a blank cell. See screenshot:
enter a helper formula to extract the values exclude zeros

2. Then keep the formula cells selected, click Data > Sort Smallest to Largest, in the popped Sort Warning dialog, check Expand the selection option. See screenshot:
click Data > Sort Smallest to Largest

3. Click Sort, and the values are sorted from smallest to largest ignoring zeros. You can remove the helper column after sorting.
the values are sorted from smallest to largest ignoring zeros

Tip.In generally, the blank cells will be sorted in the bottom, bu if you want to sort the blank cells in the front, please try to use the Kutools for Excel’s Advanced Sort and check  Blank cells in front option as shown in the following screenshot. It’s full function without limitation in 30 days, please download and have a free trial now.
sort blank in front by kutools

Best Office Productivity Tools

🤖 Kutools AI Aide: Revolutionize data analysis based on: Intelligent Execution   |  Generate Code  |  Create Custom Formulas  |  Analyze Data and Generate Charts  |  Invoke Kutools Functions…
Popular Features: Find, Highlight or Identify Duplicates   |  Delete Blank Rows   |  Combine Columns or Cells without Losing Data   |   Round without Formula ...
Super Lookup: Multiple Criteria VLookup  |   Multiple Value VLookup  |   VLookup Across Multiple Sheets   |   Fuzzy Lookup ....
Advanced Drop-down List: Quickly Create Drop Down List   |  Dependent Drop Down List   |  Multi-select Drop Down List ....
Column Manager: Add a Specific Number of Columns  |  Move Columns  |  Toggle Visibility Status of Hidden Columns  |  Compare Ranges & Columns ...
Featured Features: Grid Focus   |  Design View   |   Big Formula Bar   |  Workbook & Sheet Manager   |  Resource Library (Auto Text)   |  Date Picker   |  Combine Worksheets   |  Encrypt/Decrypt Cells   |  Send Emails by List   |  Super Filter   |   Special Filter (filter bold/italic/strikethrough...) ...
Top 15 Toolsets:  12 Text Tools (Add Text, Remove Characters, ...)   |   50+ Chart Types (Gantt Chart, ...)   |   40+ Practical Formulas (Calculate age based on birthday, ...)   |   19 Insertion Tools (Insert QR Code, Insert Picture from Path, ...)   |   12 Conversion Tools (Numbers to Words, Currency Conversion, ...)   |   7 Merge & Split Tools (Advanced Combine Rows, Split Cells, ...)   |   ... and more
Use Kutools in your preferred language – supports English, Spanish, German, French, Chinese, and 40+ others!

Supercharge Your Excel Skills with Kutools for Excel, and Experience Efficiency Like Never Before. Kutools for Excel Offers Over 300 Advanced Features to Boost Productivity and Save Time.  Click Here to Get The Feature You Need The Most...

Office Tab Brings Tabbed interface to Office, and Make Your Work Much Easier

  • Enable tabbed editing and reading in Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Publisher, Access, Visio and Project.
  • Open and create multiple documents in new tabs of the same window, rather than in new windows.
  • Increases your productivity by 50%, and reduces hundreds of mouse clicks for you every day!

All Kutools add-ins. One installer

Kutools for Office suite bundles add-ins for Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint plus Office Tab Pro, which is ideal for teams working across Office apps.

Excel Word Outlook Tabs PowerPoint
  • All-in-one suite — Excel, Word, Outlook & PowerPoint add-ins + Office Tab Pro
  • One installer, one license — set up in minutes (MSI-ready)
  • Works better together — streamlined productivity across Office apps
  • 30-day full-featured trial — no registration, no credit card
  • Best value — save vs buying individual add-in