Using a custom sort order
If you want to sort your data, follow the next steps:
1. Open the Sort dialog box, do one of the following:
- On the Home tab, in the Editing group, click the Sort & Filter
list and choose Custom Sort...:
- Right-click any cell in the table and choose Sort -> Custom Sort... in the shortcut menu:
2. In the Sort dialog box, in the Order column, select the Custom List...:

3. In the Custom Lists dialog box, choose the custom sort list or create a new list:
- Excel, by default, has four "custom lists", and you can define your own. Excel's custom lists are as
follows:
- Abbreviated days: Sun, Mon, Tue, Wed, Thu, Fri, Sat
- Days: Sunday, Monday, Tuesday, Wednesday, Thursday, Friday, Saturday
- Abbreviated months: Jan, Feb, Mar, Apr, May, Jun, Jul, Aug, Sep, Oct, Nov, Dec
- Months: January, February, March, April, May, June, July, August, September, October, November, December
Note that the abbreviated days and months do not have periods after them. If you use periods for these abbreviations, they are not recognized (and are not sorted correctly).
- You may want to create a custom list. For example, your company may have several stores, and you
want the stores to be listed in a particular order (not alphabetically).
To create a custom list, select the NEW LIST option and make your entries (in order) in the List Entries box.
See also this tip in French: Comment utiliser un ordre de tri personnalisé.