Sort It Your Way With Excel Custom Lists

By Vibek Handekar, on March 10th, 2013

 

You know how to sort an Excel list alphabetically, and with Excel 2007 you can even sort an Excel list by color. Did you know that you can also create a custom list in Excel and use that to sort your data, instead of sorting in alphabetical or numerical order?
Instead of sorting the products in this table alphabetically, we’ll create a custom list of products, and use it when sorting the list.

Create a Custom List in Excel

You can create a custom list in Excel by importing a list from a worksheet, or by typing a new list. In this example, there is a worksheet named Lists, and it contains a product list. We’ll import that list, to create the custom list.

To create the custom list:

1. Select the cells that contain the list items
2. On the Ribbon, click the Office Button, then click Excel Options.
3. In the Popular category, click Edit Custom Lists
4. In the Custom Lists dialog box, the list address -- $A$2:$A$5 -- should appear in the Import range box. If not, you can click in the Import range box, and type a range, or select a range on the worksheet.
5. To add the selected range as a custom list, click the Import button.
6. The list items will appear in the List entries section of the Custom List dialog box, and at the end of the list of existing Custom Lists.
7. Click OK to close the Custom Lists dialog box, and click OK to close the Excel Options window.

Use the Custom List

You can use the custom lists when sorting, and you can also use them with the AutoFill feature. Type any item from a custom list in a cell, then use the Fill handle to complete the list.

Sort the Excel List in Custom Order

To sort your list based on your custom list, follow these steps:

1. Select a cell in the table that you want to sort.
2. On the Ribbon’s Data tab, click Sort
3. In the Sort dialog box, select a Column from the first drop down, and select Values from the Sort On drop down.
4. In the Order drop down, click Custom List
5. In the Custom List dialog box, select your custom list, and click OK
6. Click OK to close the Sort dialog box

The list is sorted in the order of the items in your custom list.

Watch the Excel Sort Video

To see the steps for adding an Excel Custom List, then sorting by that Custom List, watch this short Excel video tutorial.

Remove Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007

You can remove or uninstall Business Contact Manager for Outlook from your computer or disable it for your Outlook profile. For more information about profiles, see Overview of Outlook e-mail profiles.

Business Contact Manager for Outlook can be disabled if you configured it by completing the Startup Wizard. Disabling Business Contact Manager for Outlook leaves it installed on your computer.
To stop the Startup wizard from displaying each time you start Outlook, remove Business Contact Manager for Outlook.

What do you want to do?

• Remove Business Contact Manager for Outlook from your computer
• Disable Business Contact Manager for Outlook for your profile

Remove Business Contact Manager for Outlook from your computer

• Microsoft Windows XP

1. If necessary, cancel the Startup Wizard, and then close Outlook.
2. On the Start menu, click Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, double-click Add or Remove Programs.
4. In the Currently installed programs and updates list, click Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007, or Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager.

 Note   Removing Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager does not remove Outlook 2007.

5. Click Remove, and then follow the instructions on your screen.

 Note   Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express (MSSMLBIZ) may also appear in the list of Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 components for removal. To free disk space, if other programs are not using it, remove SQL Server 2005 Express.

• Windows Vista

1. If necessary, cancel the Startup Wizard, and then close Outlook.
2. On the Start menu, click Control Panel.
3. In Control Panel, click Programs and Features.
4. On the Uninstall or change a program page, click Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007, or Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager.

 Note   Removing Outlook 2007 with Business Contact Manager does not remove Outlook 2007.

5. Click Uninstall/Change.
6. Follow the instructions on your screen.

 Note   Microsoft SQL Server 2005 Express (MSSMLBIZ) may also appear in the list of Business Contact Manager for Outlook 2007 components for removal. To free disk space, if other programs are not using it, remove SQL Server 2005 Express.

 Note   If the uninstall does not complete successfully, try the following procedure to disable Business Contact Manager for Outlook for your profile. If Business Contact Manager is not listed on the Data Files tab, see the Microsoft Help and Support article, How to rmanually remove Business Contact Manager for Outlook or see Contact us about Business Contact Manager for information about additional resources.
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Disable Business Contact Manager for Outlook for your profile

Complete one of the following procedures to disable Business Contact Manager for Outlook for your profile. For more information about profiles, see Switch to another Outlook e-mail profile.
 Note   The following procedures can be performed only if Business Contact Manager for Outlook has been configured by completing the Startup Wizard.

• Disable Business Contact Manager for Outlook by closing the folder
1. In Outlook, on the Go menu, click Folder List to display the Navigation Pane.
2. Right-click the Business Contact Manager folder, and then click Close Business Contact Manager.

The Business Contact Manager menu, toolbar, and folder are removed from Outlook for your profile.

• Disable Business Contact Manager for Outlook by using Mail in Control Panel.

In Windows XP or Windows Vista

1. On the Start menu, click Control Panel.
2. In Control Panel, click User Accounts, and then click Mail.

 Tip   Mail is included in the User Accounts category in category view. If Control Panel is switched to the Classic view, click Mail.

3. Click Data Files.
4. Click Business Contact Manager, and then click Remove.