Sort multiple columns descendant

**paddyfeldi** · 03-08-2012, 08:37 PM

Hi,

I'am looking for a function that sorts multiple columns descendant. Therefore, consider the following table:

Table_ex_sort.jpg

In the columngs A-C are different values. I wanna pick this values up and sort them descendant in column D, as showed in the Table (47,32,9,8,.....and so on). I think it it might be possible with a INDEX/MATCH function. Therefore, I tried the following function for cell D3 (32): =index($A$2:$C$9,MATCH(d3,$A$2:$C$9,-1),2) to search for the next smaller value than 47. But I got stuck and couldn't figure out if it's possible to solve the problem with a INDEX/MATCH combination. As a second step I wanna ignore duplicates.
Any advice would be much appreciated.

Thank you .

Patrick

**abousetta** · 03-08-2012, 08:46 PM

Hello and welcome to the forum,

Could you upload an excel workbook because the example is not clear in the post?

**paddyfeldi** · 03-08-2012, 08:47 PM

Hello,

I hope the attached picture makes things clear. Thank you.

Patrick

**abousetta** · 03-09-2012, 01:30 AM

Hi Patrick,

For future reference, we really dislike pictures here. It means that we have to create a workbook to reflect your workbook's structure from a photo.

Simplest answer I can think of is to use Large:

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

Please Login or Register  to view this content.

**paddyfeldi** · 03-09-2012, 09:52 AM

Hi,

Sorry for the picture. Thank you for your quick answer. I already tried the large function that can sort descendant. But, how would you deal with duplicates? Is there a function to ignore duplicates?

Thank you.

Patrick

**abousetta** · 03-10-2012, 07:48 AM

This thread shows some ideas on how to deal with Large and duplicates.

**paddyfeldi** · 03-13-2012, 11:48 AM

Hi,

I could solve the problem by using an array formula from the thread you posted. Think I have to learn more about array formulas. They seem to be very useful.

Thank you so much

.

Patrick

**abousetta** · 03-13-2012, 12:05 PM

I agree, Excel becomes another more powerful program once you know how to work with arrays. They are extremely fast and allow you to do things that you never thought were possible.

Glad it all worked out.