Forum Discussion

Occasional Reader

Jun 09, 2026

Sorting dataentries but keeping separation between subheadings

Hello! I would like to sort datasets with three columns, but keep the sets separate with different subheadings, but sort them all within themselves. I find it difficult to explain further with words...

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excel

IlirU

Iron Contributor

Jun 11, 2026

Hi TFStenberg,

If you run Excel 365 then create a Helper Column (in my data I created it in column D - see screenshot) and in cell F2 apply the following formula.

=LET(
    data, A2:C34,
    group, D2:D34,
    sorted, SORTBY(data, group, 1, INDEX(data,, 3), 1),
    DROP(VSTACK(TAKE(data, 1), sorted), -1)
)

Below is the formula that does not require the creation of a Helper Column.

=LET(
    data, A2:C34,
      tk, TAKE(data,, -1),
    group, SCAN(1, IFERROR(SEQUENCE(ROWS(tk)) / ISTEXT(tk), ""),
                LAMBDA(a,b, IF(b = "", a, b))),
    sorted, SORTBY(data, group, 1, INDEX(data,, 3), 1),
    DROP(VSTACK(TAKE(data, 1), sorted), -1)
)

Hope this helps.

IlirU