Sorting & Filtering Data

Lesson 8: Sort, Filter, Show Blanks & Print Tables

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In Lesson 8, we will cover the basics of sorting and filtering data in Access tables. We will walk through how to sort fields by text, number, or date, and discuss the difference between numeric and alphanumeric sorts. You will learn how to remove a sort, filter records using selections or checkboxes, display blank or null values, and print, preview, or email your tables. I will also show you how sorting and filtering work temporarily in datasheet view and explain why queries are better for saving custom views of your data, which we will discuss in the next lesson.

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Prev: Lesson 07
Next: Lesson 09

Keywords

Access Beginner, sort data, filter data, datasheet view, ascending descending, numeric vs alphanumeric sort, remove sort, filter by selection, filter checkboxes, show blank records, null values, print preview, export to Excel, export to Word, send table a

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Intro

Transcript

In lesson 8, we are going to learn how to sort and filter our data. We will learn how to sort a field. We will learn about text, numeric, and date sorts, and the difference between numeric and alphanumeric sorts. We will see how to remove a sort. We will see how to filter our records, both filtered by selection and filtered with the checkboxes. We will see how to show blank records and null values. And we will see how to print, print preview, and send our table as an email.

As of right now, we only have 16 records in our database. Well, what happens when we have 1,600 or 16,000? These records can quickly become difficult to manage. So we have to learn some tools to work with them to sort and to filter our data.

Right now, for example, if I want to find all the customers from New York, I can just come over here to the state column and I can see, "Okay, there's one, there's another one, there's another one." That is easy to do when you only have one screen full of data. But if you have 16,000 records in here - my database right now for my business has over 50,000 records in it. I have been doing this since 2002, so I have got a lot of customers in my database. And to find the customers from New York would take me a while.

So what do you do when the boss comes over and says, "Hey, I need a list of customers from New York sorted by last name, and I want it on my desk in five minutes?" What do I do? I am the boss. So I would never do that. I would not do it to you either. But what are you going to do if your boss does it to you? Well, then you have to learn how to sort and filter.

In table datasheet view, which is where we are right now - and again, remember, this is just for you, the developer. Your end users will never work with the tables directly, but this is a trick that you can use. You can sort and filter this data to quickly come in here and find stuff that you need.

Now sorting is pretty easy. See, there are little arrows here. All you have to do is find the field you want to sort on, drop that down, click on that arrow, and there's sort A to Z, sort Z to A. Pretty straightforward. I just sorted those in reverse alphabetical order. There's sort A to Z. Kind of like Excel. Except here, you do not have to worry about selecting everything. Each row will stay together. If I sort based on city, I do not have to worry about scrambling all the rest of the data.

We have sort ascending and sort descending. Z to A is descending. Now, very important to remember, and I teach this in all my classes, ascending has nothing to do with the back of a donkey. All right, you can stop laughing now. Bad joke. I have been teaching that one since I used to teach in the classroom. I used to have a classroom training center before I started teaching online, and I started doing that in like 1996. I have been teaching that joke for a long time now.

If you sort a numeric field - let us find a numeric field here. Number of employees, sort that. You will see sort smallest to largest, largest to smallest. It is the same thing. Discount rate, smallest to largest.

Now remember, some of our fields that look like numbers are actually text fields, and that is on purpose. So if I sort by phone number... Let us say for example, I change this guy to just 555. Let me sort it again. Let me sort by something else, and then I will come back in here and sort phone number. Ready? Go. Look, 555 stays with the fives because alphanumerically, that is how it would be sorted. The 555 would not float to the top, because that is not a number. That is an alphanumeric sort.

Versus over here, this is a numeric sort, big difference. In a numeric sort, the numbers are sorted in order, smallest to largest, so 5 6 9 555, because 555 is greater than 9. In an alphanumeric sort, they are sorted by character. So all the ones would stay together, the twos, the threes, the fives. 555 would come right after 5 because this 5 is less than 6. See the difference? An alphanumeric sort obviously works with characters A through Z too.

That is the difference between those two sorts. Remember, some of our fields that look like numbers, like zip code, are actually text fields. You will get a better appreciation for this as we go on. Again, remember the rule is, are you ever going to have to need to put them in order numerically? Are you ever going to be doing math on them? Taking the sum of a column of zip codes, no. You may want to sort them, that is fine, but it will be an alphanumeric sort. And if they are all five digits long, they will sort just like numbers would.

Let us put this back to a normal number - a phone number, that is. There we go. The data type in the field in your table design view and your properties determines how this data is sorted, how it is stored. Remember these are stored as numbers, this is stored as text.

Moving on, date time fields like "customer since." You will see sort oldest to newest, newest to oldest, again, same thing. A to Z, smallest to largest. Internally, the way that Access stores dates and times, it is stored as a number internally. Smaller numbers are earlier dates. Keep that in mind. So numerically, 1966 is less than 1999, that is the way they sort, that is the way they are stored. This will become important when we really get into sorting and using dates as criteria later on.

Currencies work just like numbers. Yes/no values: selected to clear it and cleared to select it, there are basically two sorts. Internally, this is stored as negative one. I know it is weird. Yes values are stored as negative one inside of Access. Do you have to remember that? No. Do not remember that. Even later when we get into programming, you do not have to remember that. Just remember zero. Yes/no values are either zero or not zero. That is what is important. But you can sort them either way, clear to selected or selected to clear, does not matter.

Let us go up to our ribbon. Now again, my ribbon is minimized. I showed you this before. Just double-click on one of these tabs, it will pop it open. When I teach my developer, my advanced class, I usually minimize this because I do not want to waste all this space on the screen. So sometimes I come back to my beginner class and I forget to open it back up again. So now you know how to open and close the ribbon. Why to minimize it? Double-click and open it back up again. I showed you that back in lesson three, but I am going to keep showing it to you. Why? Because repetition is good.

Sometimes people get mad at me when I repeat things. Well, yes, I am going to repeat things a couple times. You are beginners and repetition is good. You do not learn the alphabet when you are a kid the first time you go through it. You have to repeat it a few times. Yes, you can replay the video, but it is not the same. One of the analogies that I like to give in my later classes is that working with Access is like playing with Legos. All of the pieces are the same, but you can put them together in an infinite combination. Infinite diversity in infinite combinations. Any Star Trek nerds in there like me?

So, you know, the forms, the controls, the text boxes, all that stuff. It is all the same pieces parts. But you have to learn different ways of putting them together. That is my job. I am going to teach you the pieces parts first. That is the beginner series. Then as we get into the expert classes, I am going to teach you how to put them together differently. Here is how you manage a customer table. Here is how you deal with contacts. Here is how you put an order together. It is all the same stuff.

I could make the course very short if I just showed you one way to use everything, but I am going to show you lots of different stuff.

Now, right now, I have a bunch of different weird sort things going on in here. I will talk more about what these exactly do. You can do all kinds of weird, crazy things like multi-column sorts and all that stuff. For now, let us just click Remove Sort. That will take all those sorts off. There is advanced sorting and all kinds of crazy things you can do. We will talk about this stuff later. In fact, I have a different video you can go watch right now if you want to. One of my free TechHelp videos on sorting and filtering. I will put a link to that down in the link section. If you want to learn more about sorting and filtering right now, go watch that. If not, take your time and relax. We will get to it.

Now, up top here in the ribbon, you will also see the ascending and descending buttons. I should have waited. I usually wait until I mention the ascending button before I go over that joke. I need to remember that for the next time I rerecord this class 10 years from now. Whatever field you happen to be on, like company name, if you hit the sort ascending button, it will sort that field. Or this one here, sort descending. See how that works? Same as using these little buttons here.

Let us remove the sort and it puts it back into the... This is the order that they were entered in. If you turn off the sort.

Now, the boss wants to see all the customers from New York. Let me go ahead. I am going to maximize this table. If you are only working with one table and you want to see it fully, just double-click on the header or click on the maximize button over there. That will maximize that table. So now I can work with it with more space here. To restore it, click right there. That is Windows 101 stuff. You know that stuff already.

So I want to see just the customers from New York. Now, there are a million ways to do everything in pretty much all the Microsoft Office applications. Access especially. Access and Excel. There are like six different ways to sort and filter. I am going to show you a couple different ways. You pick one that you like and stick with your favorite one. My favorite way is just to find the one that I like, right-click, and then right down here you will see Equals New York, Does Not Equal New York, Contains New York, Does Not Contain New York. There are more advanced options over here. For now, I will just pick Equals New York. There you go. I have now filtered the records to show just New York. You can see this little guy here has a little filter symbol on it and the toggle filter is now on, and down here it says filtered. See, there are a lot of different ways you can tell that you have filtered the records. Click here and that will remove the filter. Or you can toggle it there. The filter actually stays set in the table. You just turn it on and off. So right now the filter is customers where the state is New York. I can turn that on and off at will.

Another way you could filter, drop this little box down here. You will see all these little checkboxes. You will see a checkbox for each item that exists in that table, in that field. You will see Select All, which allows you to select all of them or deselect all of them. There is Blanks. If you want to see just the blank records, turn off all the records, then click on Blanks and you will see just the blanks - the null values, people who do not have states. Drop it down, select all. Let us say you want to see just New Yorkers. Turn off Select All. If you just turn them all off and hit OK, it goes back to everybody. Turn that off. That allows you to deselect these boxes and pick New York. There you go. This is just New Yorkers. If you want to see New York and Florida, check those both on. What you can pick as many or as few as you want.

Again, I have got lots of lessons on advanced filtering. Honestly, I do not really spend a ton of time on filtering and sorting at the table level because in the next lesson, we are going to learn about queries. Queries are a lot more powerful. Plus, queries are permanent. You can build a query, set the criteria, the parameters that you want. You could say, "I want customers from New York with credit limits of $1,000, sorted alphabetically, last name, first name." Save that as a query, and now you never have to repeat those steps again. It is saved for you. You will see the data just the way you want. We are going to learn that in the next lesson.

So I really only use these sorting and filtering tools as a quick way for me, the developer, to just come in here and say, "I have got to quickly see who is from the zip code." Come over here, right-click on the zip code, Equals 90802. There you go. All done. Turn the filter off and get out of Dodge.

Now, keep in mind when you filter something. If I filter my Smith, for example, all the records are still on the table, they have not gone anywhere. The filter just displays the records that you want to see. You said "I want to see just Smiths." It is saved. Do not worry. They have not gone anywhere. Access does not eat them.

I mentioned a minute ago how you can see that you are filtered. Filter those. Notice down here you have "Filtered." That says "Filtered." It will say filtered over here in the status bar. Plus, this also now says "1 of 5" right down here with these navigation buttons. These are the navigation buttons by the way. We will talk more about these when we get in the forms. This moves to the next record, previous record, last record, new record. You do not usually use these when you are in datasheet view. You use these when you are in single form view. So each record, like Barbara Peters, will show up on the screen by herself and all of her fields. We will learn about that when we get to forms in a couple of lessons.

Now, you can apply multiple filters and sorts at the same time if you want to. Again, queries are better for this but if you, the developer, are just coming in here and poking around... Let us say I want to sort this by last name, so I put a sort on, right-click, Sort A to Z. Then I want to filter based on New York, right-click, Equals New York. Then, further, I only want to see customers from Buffalo, New York. So I find City, right-click, Buffalo. Now I see Buffalo, New York, last name, filtered by state, filtered by city, sorted by last name. So there are multiple filters and a sort.

Now, how are we going to send this to the boss? The boss wants to see this list. Well, you can print it if you want to go old school. You can send it as an email attachment. Or you can export it to a Word document if you want to make some changes to it. Let me show you real quick how to do these. We will have more lessons on all of this stuff very soon.

To print it, just go up to File and then Print just like the old days. Remember File Print? Are you old enough to remember that? Quick Print just sends it to whatever your default printer is. Mine is a little laser printer I have sitting right here on my desk. If I just want to print it without wasting time with options just hit Quick Print. Print will bring up the print banner, which lets you pick your printer, number of pages, number of copies, all this good stuff. I will talk a lot more about printing in a future class.

File, Print, Print Preview brings up a preview of what it is going to look like when you print it. Now, on this screen, this is where you can also set things like margins and the page size and all that. Right over here is what I want you to see: the Email button. Click on that and it will open up your default email program. Usually for most of you, if you are working with Microsoft's Office, it is Outlook. Again, this is pretty simple. I cover this in a future lesson also.

Here is the More button right here. Drop that down and you can export it to a Word document. You can send it to Excel. There is all kinds of stuff you can do with it. Right now I am just showing you quickly where this stuff is. We will cover it in detail in future lessons.

Here is the Print button here also when you are ready. You take a peek at it. This is a little magnifying glass. You can zoom in and out so you can see what it is going to look like. If you have multiple pages, you can scroll up and down or use the navigation buttons. But I do not actually want to print this, so I am going to close the Print Preview and come back here to Table, Datasheet View.

Let us turn the filter off, toggle filter, and let us remove the sort. Everyone is back to normal now.

One more time, and I cannot emphasize this enough: If you are building a database that you plan on having other people work with that do not know Access, you want to keep them out of your tables. Sorting and filtering here, these are tools for you, the developer, to use. Your end users are going to stick with forms and reports, and we will make menus for them that they can use to navigate your database. They will never be in your tables.

One of the problems with sorting and filtering is that they are not permanent. They will stay when you make a sort and you close the table and come back into it. For example, let us say I sort by last name. If I close the table and then come back into it, I am still sorted by last name. But if someone else comes in here now and sorts by first name, close the table. Now, it might ask if you want to save changes to the design. I changed the order, I changed the sort, so say yes. If I come back in here, now it is sorted by first name. So the last thing that you do is what gets saved.

Now, filters also get saved but they do not reapply when you open. So if I sort this, or if I filter this by New York and close it, even if I say save changes, yes, if I open it back up again, the filter is still saved and if I toggle the filter, it keeps the last one that you used. But it does not reapply it. I just covered this in a TechHelp video called Filter On. It is the Filter On property. If you are curious about how this works, go watch that video, I will put a link down below. But it is a more advanced technique.

The point I am trying to make is you might come in here and do something like see just the customers from New York, from Buffalo, sorted by last name, and you want to save that so you do not have to keep coming in here and reapplying sorting and filtering. That is where queries come in. You may actually have multiple queries based on your customer table, another one for customers from California, another one where you have to type in the state each time you run it. Those are all possible with queries. You do not have to keep reinventing the wheel, putting in parameters, putting in filtering, putting in sorting.

Queries allow you to save all of that information: the filters, the sorts. You can save that as a custom query. Then you or anybody else, even someone who does not know Access, can open it up by just double-clicking on the query.

Quiz

Q1. What is the PRIMARY reason for learning how to sort and filter data in Microsoft Access?
A. To make large amounts of data easier to manage and analyze
B. To hide records permanently from the database
C. To delete old data automatically
D. To reduce the file size

Q2. In datasheet view, how can you quickly sort the records in a table by a specific field?
A. Click File, then Sort Table
B. Drop down the arrow in the column header and click Sort A to Z or Sort Z to A
C. Switch to Form View and type in the sort order
D. Sort records by copying data to Excel

Q3. What is the primary difference between a numeric sort and an alphanumeric sort?
A. Numeric sorts arrange values by character; alphanumeric sorts arrange numbers
B. Numeric sorts order numbers by value; alphanumeric sorts order by each character
C. Numeric sorts only work for text; alphanumeric sorts only work for dates
D. There is no difference between them in Access

Q4. How does Access handle sorting of fields like Zip Code, which are stored as text?
A. They are always sorted numerically
B. They cannot be sorted at all
C. They are sorted alphanumerically by character
D. Sorting does not affect text fields

Q5. What is the result of using the filter function on a table?
A. Records are deleted from the table
B. Only records matching the filter are displayed; others are hidden
C. A new table is created with the filtered records
D. Formatting of the table changes permanently

Q6. What happens to sorts and filters after you close and reopen a table?
A. Both sorts and filters are discarded permanently
B. The last sort is maintained, and the filter is saved (but not reapplied)
C. The table resets to its original configuration every time
D. All applied filters remain active automatically

Q7. Which of the following BEST describes the use of filtering by selection (right-clicking a value and selecting Equals, Does Not Equal, etc.)?
A. It permanently deletes non-matching records
B. It displays only records that match the selected value in that field
C. It changes the data type of the field
D. It sorts the table alphabetically

Q8. When using the filter checkboxes from the dropdown in a column header, what additional option is available to show?
A. Only numeric records
B. Only those records with blank (null) values in that field
C. Only the most recent record
D. Only records with errors

Q9. Why should end users NOT typically work directly with tables in an Access database?
A. Tables are slower than reports
B. Forms and queries are safer and more user-friendly for end users
C. Tables automatically delete data with filters
D. Tables cannot be sorted or filtered at all

Q10. What is the advantage of building a query instead of repeatedly applying sorts and filters directly to a table?
A. Queries allow permanent, reusable filtering and sorting
B. Queries are only for exporting to Word or Excel
C. Queries cannot sort or filter data
D. Tables do not allow sorting at all

Q11. When you click the "Remove Sort" button in the ribbon, what happens?
A. The table closes immediately
B. All applied sorts on the table are cleared
C. All records are deleted
D. Only one column is sorted alphabetically

Q12. How can you export or share filtered or sorted data from a table in Access?
A. You cannot export filtered data
B. Use File, Print or Export options like Word, Excel, or Email
C. Manually copy and paste records to Notepad
D. Change the table to read-only mode

Answers: 1-A; 2-B; 3-B; 4-C; 5-B; 6-B; 7-B; 8-B; 9-B; 10-A; 11-B; 12-B

DISCLAIMER: Quiz questions are AI generated. If you find any that are wrong, don't make sense, or aren't related to the video topic at hand, then please post a comment and let me know. Thanks.

Summary

Today's video from Access Learning Zone is all about sorting and filtering your data in Microsoft Access. I will teach you how to organize your tables so that when your database grows from a handful of records to thousands or even tens of thousands, you can still quickly find the information you need.

Most of you probably have a relatively small sample database to start with, maybe around sixteen records. When that's the case, picking out all the customers from New York is easy - you just scan down the State field and pick them out by eye. But what if your database grows to 1,600, 16,000, or even more records, like my own business database that has over 50,000 customers since I started in 2002? Just scrolling and scanning won't cut it anymore. That's when you need some essential tools for sorting and filtering.

Sorting in datasheet view is straightforward. When you're looking at a table, Access lets you sort any field either in ascending (A to Z, smallest to largest, oldest to newest) or descending (Z to A, largest to smallest, newest to oldest) order. Just pick the field you want to sort on and select your sort option. Unlike Excel, you do not have to worry about selecting every row or column - Access keeps each row of related data together automatically.

There are a few different kinds of sorts that you will run into. Sorting text fields works alphabetically (alphanumerically), while sorting numbers works by their numeric value. It is important to understand the difference. For example, if a phone number field is set up as text, and you sort it, "555" will come right after "5" because of text sorting rules, not after "9" as it would be with numbers. This distinction is especially important for fields like zip codes that look like numbers but are better kept as text, since you will never do math on them.

Date/time fields sort from oldest to newest or vice versa, and internally Access stores dates as numbers, so sorting works as expected. Currency fields work just like other numerical fields. Yes/No fields are also sortable, but behind the scenes Access actually stores Yes as negative one and No as zero. You do not have to worry about those details; just know that you can sort them in either direction.

If you want to remove all sorts in a table, there is an option to clear them so you are back to the order in which the records were entered.

Now let us talk about filtering your data. As your tables grow, finding all the records matching a certain criteria becomes a real challenge. Access provides several ways to filter records quickly. One way is to right-click on a value in a field and filter to only show records that match or don't match that value, or even records that contain certain text. For example, to view only the customers from New York, simply filter the State field to equal "NY". The filter stays applied until you remove it, and you will see an indicator showing that the table is currently filtered.

Another common way to filter is by using the checkboxes that appear when you expand the filter dropdown on a field. You get a list of all the distinct values in that column, plus an option for blanks (records that have a missing value in that field). You can check just what you want to see, like only New York and Florida customers. This makes it easy to apply broad or very specific filters.

You can also combine sorts and filters to narrow down exactly what you need, perhaps sorting customers by last name and then filtering the list to just those in Buffalo, New York. Remember, you can apply as many sorts and filters as you need, but for more power and permanence, queries are the way forward, which we will cover in the next lesson. Queries let you save complex criteria and sorts so that you do not have to redo them every time.

It is important to know that sorts and filters are mainly for you, the database designer or developer. Your end users usually work with forms and reports, not tables directly. The tools in tables are for temporary, on-the-fly research and management.

If you need to produce a report for your boss, you can print your filtered and sorted table, preview how it will look on paper, or send it by email. Access supports exporting to Word or Excel as well. When you preview your printout, you can adjust things like margins and page size to make sure everything looks just right.

One more tip: if you maximize your table window you get more room to work. Double-click the table header or use the normal maximize button to make the table fill the window, and restore it just as you would in any Windows application.

Now, a note about saving: sorts will stay applied if you save the table. For example, if you sort a field and close the table, that order will still be there when you reopen it. However, if someone else changes the sort, their sort will replace yours. Filters, on the other hand, are also preserved but are not automatically re-applied when reopening the table. You can toggle them back on, and Access remembers your last used filter until you change it.

Remember, all your original data is still there even when you filter. Filtering just hides the records that do not match your criteria - nothing is deleted or removed from the database.

As I mentioned, queries are a better option when you want to display a specific subset of data, especially if you will need to run the same filter or sort repeatedly. With queries, you can save criteria like customers from New York with a certain credit limit, or customers from a specific city, and retrieve that view any time.

If you want step-by-step guidance on any of these topics, you can find a complete video tutorial with all the instructions on my website at the link below.

Live long and prosper, my friends.

Topic List

Sorting records in table datasheet view
Sorting by text fields (A to Z, Z to A)
Sorting by numeric fields (smallest to largest, vice versa)
Difference between numeric and alphanumeric sorts
Sorting date/time fields (oldest to newest, newest to oldest)
Sorting currency fields
Sorting yes/no fields
Removing sort from a table
Filtering records by selection (right-click method)
Filtering records using checkboxes in column headers
Showing blank and null records in filters
Applying multiple filters and sorts simultaneously
Printing a filtered/sorted table
Using print preview for tables
Sending a table by email
Exporting table data (Word, Excel)
Toggling filters on and off
How sorts and filters persist after closing a table
Limitations of table-level sorting and filtering
Transitioning from sorting/filtering in tables to queries

Article

Sorting and filtering data are essential skills in Microsoft Access, especially as your database grows. With a few records, it is easy to visually scan for the information you need, but when you have thousands of records, these tasks can become overwhelming without the right tools. In this article, we will explore how to sort and filter records efficiently in table datasheet view, how different types of data are sorted, how to remove sorts and filters, and how you can output your results by printing or emailing.

Sorting data in Access tables is straightforward. Each column header displays a small arrow, which you can click to access sorting options. Sorting can be done in ascending or descending order. In the case of text fields, ascending means alphabetical A to Z, and descending is Z to A. You do not need to worry about keeping related row data together; Access will always keep all the data in each row intact as you sort.

Sorting numeric fields works similarly. For a column like Number of Employees, sorting ascending will arrange the data from the smallest number to the largest, and descending does the opposite. The same applies to currency fields. For Yes/No fields, Access treats Yes values as negative one and No values as zero internally, though you generally do not see or need to worry about these values. You can sort the Yes/No column to group the Yes and No records together, whichever you prefer.

It is important to understand the difference between numeric and alphanumeric sorts. Some fields, like phone numbers or zip codes, may look like numbers but are stored as text. For example, if you sort a phone number column that is text, Access will sort 555 after 5 and before 6, because it compares the digits as characters, not as a single number. This is called alphanumeric sorting. In contrast, numeric sorting would place 555 after 9 and before 1000. Date/time fields are stored as numbers under the hood, so when you sort by date, oldest to newest, Access uses the underlying numeric value for each date.

To remove a sort, you can use the Remove Sort option. This resets the table to its default order, which is usually the order in which records were entered, unless you are using a primary key or an index.

Filtering allows you to see only records that match specific criteria. Suppose you want to find all customers from New York. The quickest way is to locate any New York entry in the State column, right-click it, and select Equals New York from the context menu. Access will instantly filter out all other records, showing only those that match your selection. A small filter icon appears on the column, and the status bar at the bottom indicates that filtering is active. You can toggle the filter on and off as needed. The filter stays set in the table but can be easily removed with the same controls.

There is another way to filter using checkboxes. Click the drop-down arrow in the column header, and you will see a list of all unique values in that column with checkboxes next to each. You can select or deselect any combination. For example, to see only New York and Florida customers, check those boxes and click OK. There is also an option labeled Blanks to show only records where the field is empty, also called null values. To remove the filter, you can simply turn the filter off, and all records will reappear.

Access allows you to combine multiple sorts and filters at the same time. For instance, you can sort by Last Name, filter by State equals New York, and then filter further by City equals Buffalo. This shows only Buffalo customers from New York, sorted by last name. While you can layer multiple filters and sorts, consider that queries will offer a more permanent and comprehensive solution for repeated tasks. Queries are covered in the next lesson, but for now, sorting and filtering in tables are great for quick, on-the-fly analysis or when you are the developer poking around your data.

If you want to output your filtered and sorted data, Access makes it simple. To print your results, go to the File menu and select Print. Quick Print sends the current view directly to your default printer. Print Preview lets you see the layout and adjust options like margins before printing. If you would rather share your data electronically, you can use the Email option found in Print Preview to create an email with your data attached. You can also use the More button in the ribbon to export your data to a Word document or Excel spreadsheet.

Remember, sorting and filtering done at the table level are generally tools for the developer. Your end users should interact with data through forms and reports, not directly in the tables. Also, sorts and filters are not permanent. If you sort a table and close it, Access will prompt you to save changes. When you reopen the table, it will stay sorted as you left it. The same is true for filters; the criteria are saved, but when you open the table again, you must toggle the filter back on to reapply it. This is one reason why queries are more appropriate for permanent, reusable views of data.

Sorting and filtering in datasheet view are powerful for ad hoc analysis or quick checks. To create lasting views or criteria you will reuse, learn to work with queries, which let you permanently save both sorts and filters. For now, try these sorting and filtering techniques to organize your data, and remember that as your database grows, these skills will become an essential part of managing your information efficiently.