» Sorting Rules in Excel 2007

Excel sorts data according to a defined order, as follows:

Numeric values: Numeric values, including date and time, are sorted from lowest (negative) to highest (positive). Excel does not consider the format of the cell, only its contents.

Date and time are sorted by their numeric values.

Text: Text is sorted first by ASCII characters, such as *, (,), $, and then by letters of the alphabet (also ASCII characters). Uppercase text is sorted before lowercase text.

Logical values:FALSE is sorted before TRUE.

Errors: Errors do not undergo internal sorting, and appear next to last.

Blank cells: Blank cells are always sorted last. Descending Sort changes the sort order from the last to the first, except for blank cells, which are always last.