How to Do a Random Sort in Excel & Google Sheets

This tutorial will demonstrate how to do a random sort in Excel and Google Sheets.

 

 

Random Sort

To do a random sort in Excel, use the RAND Function and then the Sort feature to shuffle a list randomly.

1. To the right of the column of data to be randomized, click in the first cell and type in the RAND Function.

 

 

2. Drag the excel handle in the bottom right-hand corner of the cell down to the last cell in the range.

 

 

3. Release the mouse to copy the RAND Function down.

 

 

4. With the range still selected, in the Ribbon, select Home > Editing > Sort & Filter > Sort Smallest to Largest.

 

 

5. A warning box will pop up. Accept the suggestion Expand the selection and click Sort.

 

 

6. The list of numbers to the left of the random numbers will now be randomly sorted.

 

 

7. Now remove the “RAND()” helper column from the worksheet.

You can also perform random sorting by writing a macro with VBA code. VBA has a number of built-in functions and loops to achieve this.

Random Sort in Google Sheets

Google Sheets has a built-in Randomize feature you can use to randomly sort data.

1. Select the data that needs to be randomized.

 

 

2. In the Ribbon, select Data > Randomize range.

 

 

The data will automatically be randomly sorted.