SORTBY

Category: Lookup and reference · Last tested 2026-09-01

Real compatibility results for the SORTBY function: executed in Excel for the web, Google Sheets and LibreOffice Calc, with desktop Excel behavior from Microsoft’s official documentation (we do not run desktop Excel — Excel for the web is a different application and is executed separately). Syntax and links to that documentation are below.

Support matrix

LibreOffice version history

We executed the same test cases under each LibreOffice release to show exactly when SORTBY’s support changed — not documentation claims, real results.

Why isn't SORTBY working in LibreOffice?

If SORTBY returns a #NAME? error in LibreOffice Calc, you are almost certainly running a release older than 24.8.7.2 — that is exactly what our executed tests show: #NAME? in 24.2.0.3, working from 24.8.7.2 onward. Check your version under Help → About LibreOffice and upgrade to 24.8.7.2 or newer; no setting or extension enables it in older releases. (Other causes of this error: see the error values guide.)

Why isn’t SORTBY working in Google Sheets?

Google Sheets does not implement SORTBY: we imported the formula into Sheets on 2026-08-29 and every case came back #NAME? (unrecognized function). Sheets is a rolling service with no version to pin, so this is a statement about the service on that date, and Google’s own function list does not document it either. Rewrite the formula with a documented Sheets equivalent — see the Excel ↔ Sheets equivalents table.

Executed test cases

Excel for the web (executed 2026-09-01 via OneDrive recalculation)

These values come from Excel for the web, not from desktop Excel. They are two different implementations of the calculation engine, and this run measured only the web one: the corpus was uploaded to OneDrive as .xlsx, recalculated by Excel for the web on open, and downloaded again for readback. Excel for the web is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so the run is identified by its date. Where a value here disagrees with the Expected column — which is Microsoft’s documentation of the desktop product — we cannot tell you whether the web engine diverges from the desktop one or the documentation is wrong about both, because we do not run desktop Excel.

Google Sheets (executed 2026-08-29 via Drive import)

Google Sheets is a rolling service with no pinnable version, so this run is identified by its date. The corpus was imported to Drive as .xlsx, recalculated by Sheets, and exported back for readback.

LibreOffice Calc 25.8.7.3 (tested 2026-07-29)

Docs & syntax

• Excel (desktop): official documentation
• LibreOffice Calc: official documentation

Related how-to recipes

• How to reverse the order of a list

Where SORTBY behaves differently

• Which LibreOffice version for VSTACK, TEXTSPLIT, TAKE & DROP?
  VSTACK, HSTACK, TEXTSPLIT, TAKE and DROP return #NAME? in LibreOffice 24.2, 24.8 and 25.2 - our executed runs show all fourteen working only from 25.8.7.3. Full version map by wave.
• SORT descending in Google Sheets: is_ascending vs sort_order
  Excel's SORT takes a numeric sort_order (1/-1); Google Sheets' third argument is a boolean is_ascending. Executed, =SORT(A2:A4,1,-1) returns 10, 20, 50 in Google Sheets against 50, 20, 10 in LibreOffice 25.8.7.3 - ascending, with no error anywhere. The fix is FALSE.
• openpyxl and _xlfn.XLOOKUP: why your XLOOKUP opens as #NAME?
  openpyxl writes formula text verbatim, so =XLOOKUP(...) is stored in the .xlsx under its plain name. Executed 2026-09-12: that cell is #NAME? in Excel for the web and in all four pinned LibreOffice builds, while =_xlfn.XLOOKUP(...) returns 20 in Excel for the web and in LibreOffice 24.8, 25.2 and 25.8.