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Re-Sorting Categories in Pivot Tables

Ann K. Emery
Last updated: 

Mar 24th, 2025

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Ann K. Emery of Depict Data Studio showing how we can re-sort categories in pivot tables, which allows us to customize our data visualizations.

By default, Excel will sort categories alphabetically or chronologically.

But we can use the “brackety compass rose” to customize our pivot tables… which lets us customize our graphs.

For example, with this technique, we can re-sort Agree, Disagree, Neutral, Strongly Agree, Strongly Disagree…. into Strongly Agree, Agree, Neutral, Disagree, Strongly Disagree.

Learn how in this lesson:

What’s Inside

  • 0:00 Intro
  • 1:18 Re-Sorting Months in Pivot Tables
  • 6:26 Re-Sorting Survey Response Options in Pivot Tables

Related Resources

More about Ann K. Emery
Ann K. Emery is a sought-after speaker who is determined to get your data out of spreadsheets and into stakeholders’ hands. Each year, she leads more than 100 workshops, webinars, and keynotes for thousands of people around the globe. Her design consultancy also overhauls graphs, publications, and slideshows with the goal of making technical information easier to understand for non-technical audiences.

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