Group Data in Excel
The more data you have, the more confusion it will create in the final summary sheet. For example, if you are showing monthly sales reports from different categories and if the categories are too many, then we cannot see the full view of the summary in a single window frame. When the summary exceeds more than one window frame, then we need to scroll down or scroll across to see the other month’s numbers, so in such cases, it is a good idea to group the data. In this article, we will show you the ways of grouping data in excel.
Too much of subcategory line items may be overwhelming to see and very complex to read; this adds to the chances of reading wrongly. The good thing is the excel flexible, and we can organize the data to the group to create a precise summary by adding PLUS or MINUS signs.
How to Group Data in Excel?
Example #1
Below is the summary of the monthly sales summary across different categories of the business.
As you can see above, we could see only two months summary in the single page view. To see other months’ summary, we need to scroll right of the sheet to see other remaining months to see the summary, but by grouping the data, we can see in a single page view like the below one.
Ok, let me show you how to group the first-month sub-category breakup.
- Step 1: Select columns that we need to group; in this example, we need to group sub-category breakup columns and see the only monthly total, so we need to select only sub-category columns.
- Step 2: After selecting the columns to the group, go to the Data tab; under the outline category of the Data tab, we have a “Group” option.
- Step 3: Click on the drop-down list in excel of “Group” and again choose “Group.”
As soon as you select the “Group” option, we can see the selected columns are grouped together.
Click on the “Minus” icon to see only “Jan” month total.
- Step 4: Similarly, select the second month “Feb” columns and group the data.
- Step 5: One tip here is you need not click on the “Group” option every time from the DATA tab; rather, once the first-month grouping is over, select the second-month column and presses the F4 key to repeat the previous task one more time.
Like this repeat, the steps for each month to group the data.
So, whenever we want to see the particular month sub-category breakup, we just need to click on the PLUS icon symbol to expand the grouped columns view.
For example, if I want to see “Mar” month subcategory breakup values, then we need to click on the “PLUS” icon symbol.
To Group the columns, click on the minus sign.
Example #2 – Shortcut Key to Group the Data
A shortcut is a way of increasing the productivity in excel, so grouping the data to have a shortcut key.
The shortcut key to the group selected data is ALT + SHIFT + Right Arrow.
- Step 1: First, select the columns to be grouped.
- Step 2: Now press the shortcut key ALT + SHIFT + Right Arrow.
Example #3 – View Collapsed (Expanded) and Grouped Data Quickly
As we did above, we can group the data to view a single page summary or single window frame summary in excel. When we group the data at the top left of the worksheet, we can see level buttons.
If you click on the first level button, i.e., “1,” we can see “Grouped” data; when we click on the level button “2,” we can see expanded data.
Things to Remember
- Grouping is the way of showing only the main data.
- While grouping the excel data, we need to select all the data columns that we need to group and leave out the column that needs to be seen.
- The shortcut key to group the selected data columns is ALT + SHIFT + Right Arrow.
Recommended Articles
This has been a guide to Group Data in Excel. Here we discuss how to group data in excel with the shortcut key and the quickest way to view expanded or grouped data. You may learn more about excel from the following articles –
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