Sorting a Column in Excel Web App

I divide my cloud spreadsheet time almost equally between Google Docs (aka Google Drive) and the Excel Web App in Microsoft’s SkyDrive. While I enjoy features of both, I found that merely sorting a spreadsheet in the Excel Web App seemed much clunkier than Google’s online spreadsheet. If you’re trying to figure out simple sorting, here’s how to do it.

Please take a look at the screen shots at the bottom of this article.

1. Select your data range. Simply place your cursor somewhere in the data range and Excel does a pretty good job of figuring out what range to sort.

2. On the toolbar at the top of the page, select “Format as Table” and from that drop-down, also select “Format as Table.”

3. You will then be asked if your data range has a header row or not.

4. Now that your data has been converted to a table, each column will contain a drop-down which you can choose to sort your data.

Obviously this is a much more involved process than merely selecting “sort” but what do you want for free? Aside from this and a few other glaringly obvious features, the Excel Web App is a decent spreadsheet.

Have you found a better way to sort data in the Excel Web App? Or is this article out of date? Let us know in the comments below!