How To Have Google Sheets Automatically Sort

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Imagine having a Google Sheet that updates itself, taking care of sorting your data to always keep the most important content at the top. Sounds like a dream, right? Well, get ready to turn that dream into reality. In this blog post, we’ll guide you through the steps to make your Google Sheets automatically sort.

Getting Started

Automatic sorting in Google Sheets can be achieved through simple functions and scripts. It’s not as scary as it sounds, and we’ll be here to guide you through every step of the way.

Using the SORT Function

One method to have Google Sheets automatically sort is by using the SORT function. Here is how to do it:

  1. Click on an empty cell where you want your sorted data to appear.
  2. Type in the SORT function. The syntax is: =SORT(range, sort_column, is_ascending, [sort_column2, is_ascending2, …]).

Let’s say we have a table of students with scores, and we want to sort them from highest to lowest. Our function would look something like this: =SORT(A2:B10, 2, FALSE). Here, A2:B10 is the range of our data, 2 is the column we want to sort (the scores), and FALSE means we want the scores sorted in descending order.

Using Google Apps Script

If you constantly update your data and want the sheet to automatically sort even after updates, the Google Apps Script is a better choice. Here’s how to use it:

  1. Click on Extensions > Apps Script
  2. You will see a new tab with an empty script. Here, you’ll type your custom script.
   function onEdit(event){
     var sheet = event.source.getActiveSheet();
     var editedCell = sheet.getActiveCell();

     var columnToSortBy = 4;
     var tableRange = "A2:T99"; // What to sort.

     if(editedCell.getColumn() == columnToSortBy){   
       var range = sheet.getRange(tableRange);
       range.sort( { column : columnToSortBy, ascending: false } );
     }
   }

This script will automatically sort your data based on the changes in the fourth column (column D) in descending order. You can adjust the column number and the range according to your needs.

After you’ve entered your script, click on the disk icon or select File > Save to save your changes. Your Google Sheets will now automatically sort according to your script!

Conclusion

As we’ve seen, automatically sorting Google Sheets is easy and can be very useful. You can use the SORT function for one-time sorting or use Google Apps Script for continuous sorting. Either way, we hope this guide was helpful and made your Google Sheets experience even better.