How to Organize Data in Excel for Analysis: 7 Proven Ways

MS Excel is the go-to tool for data analytics, and for good reason. It gives you many capabilities to organize large datasets.

Whether you want to filter specific data points or highlight similar data, you can simplify your dataset and service useful insights without getting lost in the volume of data.

In this article, we’ll walk you through the seven best ways to organize data in Excel and make your analysis process less overwhelming.

7 best ways to organize data in your Excel file

Let’s look at seven ways you can organize data in Excel strategically.

1. Format cells to highlight and segment data

Conditional formatting helps visually categorize data points to identify patterns, trends, and anomalies in a dataset.

You can set specific conditions for a row, column, or range of cells and define formatting rules, like cell color, bold, italics, etc. Excel will automatically analyze the data and format the cells based on your predefined conditions.

This feature makes the workbook visually informative and easily understandable to speed up your analysis.

Here’s how you can apply conditional formatting to your data. Select a row, column, or range and go to the Conditional Formatting option in the ribbon. Set rules based on how you want to visualize the data, and Excel will apply them instantly.

2. Sort and filter data to organize worksheet

You can use the sort option to organize data in an ascending or descending order of values. Excel lets you sort rows/columns by date, numbers, alphabets, and color. This way, you can convert raw data into structured data and identify the highest/lowest values.

You can also use multi-level sorting to manipulate the dataset any way you want.

Besides sorting data points in Excel, you can use filters to dig deeper into specific parts of your dataset without changing or deleting anything from the original workbook.

By applying filters, you can see only those cells that meet your conditions and temporarily hide irrelevant details. It helps in drilling down the necessary details by customizing data visibility. While you can set custom conditions for filtering data, Excel also gives you these default filter options.

💡Do it with Gigasheet: You can filter large datasets on Gigasheet in seconds. Simply select the row/column you want to filter and use the Filter feature to set conditions for filtering data. Unlike Excel, you can set multiple rules to create more advanced filters.

3. Apply formulas to organize large datasets

Formulas give you a powerful way to organize data in Excel and manipulate the dataset with complex actions, like logical computations or statistical analysis.

There are multiple Excel formulas for data analysis to:

Categorize and rank existing data points
Retrieve data from different spreadsheets
Join text strings in different cells to create new data
Automate specific tasks, like addition and multiplication

Formulas help in organizing your data with maximum accuracy and efficiency.

Here’s an example of the IF formula used to create a new row/column based on whether existing data points meet predefined criteria.

💡Do it with Gigasheet: Writing complicated formulas can be headache. Instead of spending time figuring out the right formulas for any action, use Gigasheet’s range of features — like VLookup, data enrichment, data cleanup, and more — to perform these actions quickly.

Here’s a snippet of different functions you can use on Gigasheet:

4. Create named ranges to assign a name to cells

Named ranges let you assign a relevant name/tag to a range of cells, making it easy to create formulas for a large dataset. Instead of adding the default cell references, like A1, A2, etc., you can simply add the range name to your formulas and speed up the analysis process.

You can also use these range names to easily navigate your workbook and simplify data validation.

Here’s how you can create a named range in Excel:

Select the cell or range of cells you want to name.
Go to the Name box on the left corner of the screen, next to the formula bar.
Add the name you want to include and use an underscore instead of spaces.

Then you can create formulas for a specific range of cells by simply using this name.

5. Use outlining to group specific rows and columns

The outlining feature in Excel allows you to create a hierarchical structure for your dataset. You can hide or display chosen data groups to analyze with greater concentration and accuracy. This is helpful when you have a complex dataset with multiple details and want to zoom into specific sections.

You can outline your spreadsheets with these steps:

Select the row or column you want to group. You must choose an entire row/column or multiple rows/columns.
Go to Data > Group > Outline, and you’ll get the option to hide the chosen rows/columns.
Click on the plus or minus icon to show and hide your grouped data.

Outlining groups of data makes it easy to navigate a massive spreadsheet and enhances readability. The result? You can quickly work through the data, regardless of size.

💡Do it with Gigasheet: Outlining in Excel feels too much of a hassle? Use the group data feature on Gigasheet to easily categorize data points and hide or view a specific category for accurate, in-depth analysis.

Here’s an example of employee data grouped into three levels: department, age, and job level:

6. Make subsheets to distribute and categorize data

A fairly common way to organize data in Excel is by creating subsheets. You can divide a large workbook into smaller segments and categorize it into different subsheets.

You can customize each subsheet in multiple ways, such as:

Change the sheet’s name and color.
Add a password to protect a subsheet.
Create a copy of a sheet or reorder them.
Convert a sheet into a chart or macro sheet.
Hide or delete a sheet from the main workbook.

Making subsheets helps break down a big dataset into smaller, more easily manageable segments and simplifies data processing.

7. Use data consolidation to combine data from multiple sheets

You can combine data from several spreadsheets into a single sheet using Excel’s data consolidation feature. This is great for analyzing data saved across different sheets or files.

Follow these steps to aggregate data stored in different locations — within the same file or in separate files:

Open the sheet where you’d like to consolidate all the data.
Go to Data > Data Tools > Consolidate.
Use the Browse option to add new files and choose ‘add’ as the reference. You can also use labels in case you’ve added labels in your chosen file.
Choose the ‘Create links to source data’ option if you want to update your consolidated data in real time when making changes to the source file.

The data consolidation feature works well for collecting and organizing data from multiple sources into a single file.

Ditch Excel, work intuitively with Gigasheet!

Let’s face it: Excel can be a pain when working with a large file.

Instead of getting caught up in Excel’s slow and frustrating ways, try Gigasheet.

Gigasheet is built for large files with multiple options to organize your data seamlessly. You can filter and group data cell ranges, remove duplicates, combine or split columns, and trim whitespace — all in a few clicks.

With Gigasheet’s AI-powered Sheet Assistant, organizing data in Excel is even easier and quicker. Simply ask the assistant to filter, group, and aggregate your data.