Apple numbers User Manual

    Using Tables 

 

The following table describes how different types of data are sorted in ascending or 
descending order. 

You can hide rows in a table that don’t contain the values you specify. 

Select the table.

Click Sort & Filter in the toolbar or choose Show Sort & Filter Panel from a reference 
tab’s pop-up menu.

Select “Show rows that match the following,” and then choose the column whose 
values you want to use to create filter criteria.

Use the remaining controls to define the column value for rows you want to show.

To use additional filter criteria, click + to define each one you want to add.

If you choose “is in the top n values” or “is in the bottom n values,” all values matching 
the top or bottom n will be shown, which may be more than n.

Note:  You can’t add any new rows to the table until you stop filtering rows. To stop 
filtering rows in the table, deselect “Show rows that match the following.”

When you sort table cells, values in hidden rows are taken into account.

Text

aA–zZ

Zz–Aa

Dates

Year (earliest first), then Month 
(January first), then day (1–31)

Year (most current first), then 
month (December first), then 
day (31–1)

Numbers

–2, –1, 0, 1, and so on

1, 0, –1, –2, and so on

Cells containing only text, mixed 
with cells containing only 
numbers

–2, –1, 0, 1, and so on, then aA–
zZ

Zz–Aa, then 1, 0, –1, –2, and so 
on

Cells containing a mixture of 
text and numbers

Values starting with numbers 
first (1z, 1Z, a1, A1)

Values starting with text first (A1, 
a1, 1A, 1z)

Empty cells

At the bottom

At the bottom

Boolean (TRUE, FALSE)

Below text and above an empty 
cell

Above text