How to Sort Chart in Excel

Staring at a jumbled Excel chart can make it tough to spot trends or compare performance. The good news is that organizing your visual data for clarity is much simpler than it looks. This guide will walk you through exactly how to sort charts in Excel, whether by value, alphabetical order, or a custom sequence, helping you present your data more effectively.

The Golden Rule: You Sort the Data, Not the Chart

Before we touch a single bar or line on a graph, it’s vital to understand the most important principle of chart sorting in Excel: you don't sort the chart directly. Instead, you sort the source data that fuels the chart.

Excel charts are dynamic visualizations. They act as mirrors, reflecting the precise arrangement of the table or data range they are connected to. When you reorder the data in your table - for example, by arranging sales figures from highest to lowest - the chart automatically redraws itself to match that new order. This is a powerful feature because it means you only need to learn how to sort data properly to gain full control over your charts.

Imagine this simple dataset for monthly sales:

A column chart based on this data will show the columns in the order of January, February, March, and April. If you wanted to see sales performance from highest to lowest, you wouldn't click on the chart columns. Instead, you'd sort the Sales column in the table, and the chart would instantly update itself to reflect that new sorted order.

How to Sort an Excel Chart by Value (Ascending/Descending)

Sorting by value is the most common requirement. You often want to see which categories are the top performers (descending order) or the lowest performers (ascending order). This is perfect for ranking products by sales, campaigns by clicks, or regions by revenue.

Here’s how to do it, step-by-step:

1. Select Your Data Range: Click any cell within the data table that your chart is based on. You don’t need to highlight the entire table, Excel is smart enough to detect the full range as long as there are no empty rows or columns breaking it up.
2. Go to the Data Tab: In the Excel ribbon at the top of the screen, click on the Data tab.
3. Open the Sort Dialog Box: In the "Sort & Filter" group, click the large Sort icon. This will open the Sort dialog box, which gives you precise control over how your data is organized.
4. Configure the Sort Settings:
5. Check for Headers: Near the top right of the dialog box, make sure the box for "My data has headers" is checked. This tells Excel to ignore your column titles (like 'Month' and 'Sales') and only sort the actual data rows beneath them.
6. Click OK: Once you click OK, your data table will instantly reorder itself. At the same time, you'll see your chart automatically update, with the bars, columns, or lines now shown in their new sorted order.

Your "messy" chart comparing different products is now neatly organized, making it instantly clear which products are driving the most revenue.

How to Sort a Chart Alphabetically (A-Z or Z-A)

Sometimes, ranking by value isn't the goal. Instead, you may need to organize categories alphabetically to make it easier for your audience to find a specific entry. For example, you might want to display a list of countries, employee names, or marketing channels in alphabetical order.

The process is nearly identical to sorting by value - you just target a different column.

1. Select a Cell: Click anywhere inside your source data table.
2. Navigate to the Sort Tool: Go to the Data tab and click the Sort button.
3. Set the Sort Column: In the 'Sort by' dropdown, this time select the column containing the category labels you want to alphabetize. If you're sorting a list of countries, you’d select the "Country" column.
4. Choose the Order: Under the 'Order' dropdown, you’ll see options for "A to Z" (standard alphabetical order) and "Z to A" (reverse alphabetical order). Choose the one that fits your needs.
5. Confirm and Apply: Ensure "My data has headers" is checked, and click OK.

Just like that, your chart's categories will be sorted alphabetically, whether on the horizontal (X-axis) or vertical (Y-axis) depending on your chart type.

How to Use a Custom Sort Order (Non-Alphabetical)

What if you need an order that is neither numerical nor alphabetical? Common examples include:

• Sorting months chronologically (January, February, March...)
• Ordering business quarters (Q1, Q2, Q3, Q4)
• Arranging categories by a specific priority (e.g., "High," "Medium," "Low")
• Sequencing stages in a sales funnel (e.g., "Awareness," "Consideration," "Conversion")

If you tried sorting these alphabetically, you'd get "April" before "February" and "Q1" after "Q3." To fix this, you need to use Excel's Custom List feature.

Here’s how you can create your own sorting logic:

1. Open the Sort Dialog Box: Follow the first two steps from the previous sections: click inside your data, go to the Data tab, and click Sort.
2. Target the Right Column: In the 'Sort by' dropdown, select the column you want to apply the custom order to (e.g., 'Month' or 'Priority Level').
3. Choose Custom List: Under the 'Order' dropdown, click the last option at the bottom: Custom List...
4. Select or Create a List: A "Custom Lists" window will appear.
5. Apply Your Custom Order: Back in the main Sort dialog box, you'll see your custom list is now selected as the 'Order'. Click OK.

Your chart will reorganize itself according to the custom logic you defined, presenting data in a perfectly logical, non-alphabetical sequence.

Timesaving Tips for Chart Sorting

Use Excel Tables for Safer Sorting

Instead of using a simple data range, convert it to an official Excel Table by selecting your data and pressing Ctrl + T (or by going to Insert → Table). Why? Tables treat your data as a cohesive unit. When you sort a column in a table, the entire row's data moves together, preventing a common and frustrating error where only one column gets sorted, leaving the rest of the data mismatched.

Additionally, Tables come with built-in filter and sort arrows in the header row, allowing you to quickly perform simple A-Z or Largest-to-Smallest sorts without even needing to open the Data tab.

Sorting Horizontal Bar Charts

The sorting process for horizontal bar charts is identical to column charts, but the visual result is worth noting. Sorting values from "Largest to Smallest" will place the longest bar at the top of the chart. This is typically the most intuitive way to display ranked data, creating what's known as a Tornado or Pareto-style chart that's very easy to read.

Final Thoughts

Organizing an Excel chart boils down to one simple action: sorting its source data. By controlling the data table, you have complete power over how the chart is presented, whether you need to arrange it by performance, by name, or according to a specific business process.

Manually creating and sorting reports in a spreadsheet is a good skill, but it can quickly become repetitive, especially when drawing insights from several different platforms at once. At Graphed , we automate that entire workflow. By connecting to your data marketing and sales sources directly, our 'AI data analyst' can instantly build and organize dashboards for you. Just ask in plain English - "show me my top 5 campaigns by revenue last month" - and we generate a live, interactive chart that's already perfectly sorted and ready to analyze.