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In Excel, cells can be sorted and filtered not only by values, but also by colour. We show you where to find the respective functions and how to use them.
Excel – Sort cells by colour
Sorting based on cell colour is very easy in Excel: you just have to select the appropriate criterion in the Sort dialogue when rearranging the cells.
- Open the Excel workbook and select any cell in the range you want to sort.
- On the Home tab, click the Sort and Filter button and then select Custom Sort…. Alternatively, switch to the Data tab and click Sort.
- Select the column with the coloured cells via the first drop-down field. Set the Sort by field to Cell colour, then select the cell colour in the Sequence field and the order in the sorting in the last field.
- Click on Add layer to sort by additional colours. When you are done, confirm with OK.
- Alternative: If you only want to do a quick sort by one colour, right-click in a coloured cell. In the context menu, select Sort and then Sort Selected Cell Colour to Top. Of course, you can also do this for several colours one after the other.
Excel – Filter cells by colour
You don’t always want to sort an Excel table in a new way to get a better overview or to find certain entries. Often filters are a better alternative – and here you can also use the cell colours as a criterion:
- Open your Excel document and click on any field in the table with Data.
- Switch to the Data tab and click Filter.
- Small arrows have now become visible in the top cells of your table. Click on the arrow in the column whose data you want to filter and move the mouse pointer over Filter by colour. Select the colour you want to filter by. This will hide all other colours.
- To undo the filtering, click the arrow again and select Remove Filter.
- Alternative: You can also quickly filter by a specific colour by right-clicking on a cell with that same colour and then clicking Filter ☻ Filter by the colour of the selected cell.
