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How to sort multiple columns from left to right in Excel?

Author Kelly Last modified

Effectively sorting data in Excel can greatly improve your ability to analyze and interpret information. While most users are familiar with row sorting, sorting columns from left to right based on specific criteria (such as monthly sales totals) is equally important but less well known. This feature is especially useful when directly comparing performance over time or across categories. This tutorial will focus on how to horizontally sort columns using Excel's built-in sorting feature.

Suppose you have a monthly sales table with the monthly total sales row at the bottom as shown in the screenshot below. To sort the sales columns in your Excel spreadsheet based on the total sales for each month, please do as follows.

A screenshot showing the sales table
  1. Select the range of your sales data along with the total row. This should include all the monthly columns with headers.
  2. Under the "Data" tab, click the "Sort" button in the "Sort & Filter" group.
    A screenshot of the Sort button under the Data tab in Excel
  3. In the "Sort" dialog, click the "Options" button. And then enable the "Sort left to right" option in the "Sort Options" dialog box.
    A screenshot of enabling the from left to right options
  4. Back in the main "Sort" dialog, under "Row", select the row number that contains your total sales (e.g., row 9 if your totals are in the 9th row). Choose "Cell Values" in the "Sort On" field, choose either "Largest to Smallest" or "Smallest to Largest" depending on how you want to view your data, then click "OK".
    A screenshot of specifying the sorting criteria

Then the selected columns are sorted from left to right based on total sales. See screenshots:

A screenshot of the result
Note: Microsoft Excel will remember your sorting orientation selection from Step 3. This means that the next time you perform a sort, Excel will default to horizontal sorting (left to right) if that was your previous choice.

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