When an ordinary alphabetical or numerical sort in Microsoft Excel won't do, check out the advanced sorting options or add a custom sort pattern.

Not all sorts in Excel are alphabetical. Sometimes, you need to sort by an irregular set of terms, and when that happens, you need to create a custom sort. Here's how.

Can Excel sort by color? Absolutely. In addition to sorting by values, Excel can sort by cell color, font color, and cell icon. First, you must you must define the colors for your sort columns ...