How to undo sort in Excel

You can watch a video tutorial here.

Excel provides a simple way to sort a table based on single or multiple columns. The order can be either ascending or descending based on alphabets or numbers. Having sorted the data you may want to reverse the action or you would like to mix up the data so that it is not sorted in any order. While there is no specific ‘unsort’ option in Excel, there is a workaround. 

Option 1 – Use the Undo option

Step 1 – Click the Undo button

  • Navigate to the top left of the screen
  • Click the Undo button

OR

  • Press Ctrl+Z

Note: If other actions have been performed after sorting, all the actions will have to be undone as well. This option will not work if the file is saved after sorting.

Step 2 – Check the result

  • The sort order is removed

Option 2 – Remove the sort order

Step 1 – Create a blank temporary column

  • Insert a blank column by selecting the first column and clicking Insert from the context menu (right-click)

Step 2 – Create a random number

  • Enter the RANDBETWEEN() function to create a random number between 1 and 500:
    • =RANDBETWEEN(1,500)
  • Press Enter

Step 3 – Copy the formula to the rest of the column

  • Using the fill handle from the first cell, drag the formula to the remaining cells

OR

  1. Select the cell with the formula and press Ctrl+C or choose Copy from the context menu (right-click)
  2. Select the rest of the cells in the column and press Ctrl+V or choose Paste from the context menu (right-click)

Step 4 – Sort the data 

  • Select the data
  • Choose the Sort option from the ribbon under Home > Sort & Filter 
  • Select (Column A)  in the Sort window
  • Click OK

Step 5 – View the result

  • The order of the data is now random and the data can be considered ‘unsorted’
  • The temporary column can be deleted