Filter and sort by color

A computer system for organizing data cells in a data spreadsheet comprising:

• at least one processor;
• and
• at least one memory, communicatively coupled to the at least one processor and containing computer-readable instructions that are executed by the at least one processor to perform the following steps:
• receiving a selection of data cells comprising less than all data cells within a column of the data spreadsheet, wherein the selected data cells comprise data table location references, and wherein the data table location references determine data cell locations within the data spreadsheet;
• receiving a selection to sort the selected data cells;
• displaying a first menu, wherein the first menu displays one or more options for sorting the selected data cells according to one or more format types, wherein the one or more format types comprise at least one of:
• a cell fill color, a cell font type, a cell font size, a cell font color, and a cell icon type;
• receiving a selection of a format type by which to sort the selected data cells;
• scanning each of the selected data cells for associated formats of the selected format type, wherein the selected data cells are associated with at least a first associated format and a second associated format different from the first associated format, and wherein non-selected data cells in the column of the data spreadsheet are associated with additional formats;
• displaying on the display device a second menu, wherein the second menu displays options for sorting the selected data cells according to the associated formats, wherein the options comprise at least the first associated format and the second associated format, and wherein the options do not include the additional formats;
• receiving a selection of the first associated format, wherein the selection of the first associated format comprises designating one of the data cells of the selected data cells as an active cell, and wherein the active cell is associated with the first associated format;
• displaying a third menu, wherein the third menu displays options for sorting the selected data cells according to one or more cell arrangements based on the first associated format, and wherein the one or more cell arrangements comprise at least one of:
• displaying selected data cells having the first associated format above selected data cells not having the first associated format and displaying selected data cells having the first associated format below selected data cells not having the first associated format;
• receiving a selection of one of the one or more cell arrangements;
• scanning the selected data cells to determine data cells having the first associated format and selected data cells not having the first associated format;
• in response to the determination, sorting the selected data cells according to the selected cell arrangement based on the first associated format;
• and
• displaying the selected data cells, including displaying the at least one data cell having the first associated format and the at least one data cell having the second associated format.

A computer storage medium, having computer-readable instructions stored thereon for organizing data cells in a data spreadsheet, performing steps comprising:

• receiving by a retrieving module a selection of data cells, wherein the selected data cells comprise less than all data cells of a column of the data spreadsheet;
• receiving a selection to sort the selected data cells;
• receiving by a scanning module a selection of a format type of a cell fill color by which to sort the selected data cells, scanning each of the selected data cells for cell fill colors associated with the selected data cells, wherein non-selected data cells in the column of the data spreadsheet comprise additional cell fill colors;
• displaying on the display device a menu, wherein the menu displays options for sorting the selected data cells according to a plurality of cell fill colors, and wherein the options comprise only the plurality of cell fill colors associated with the selected data cells without displaying the additional cell fill colors;
• receiving by the scanning module the selection of a cell fill color of the plurality of cell fill colors by which to sort the selected data cells, wherein the selected cell fill color is associated with at least one of the selected data cells;
• in response to the selection to sort, the step of sorting comprising:
• accessing by the retrieving module a cell table of the data spreadsheet;
• retrieving by the retrieving module data table location references of the selected data cells from the cell table;
• accessing by the scanning module a format manager;
• retrieving by the scanning module the selected data cells associated with the selected cell fill color and the selected data cells not associated with the selected cell fill color from the format manager;
• communicating by the retrieving module the data table location references corresponding to the selected data cells associated with the selected cell fill color and the selected data cells not associated with the selected cell fill color to an organizing module;
• reassigning by the organizing module the data table location references of the selected data cells according to the selected cell fill color;
• and
• accessing by the organizing module the cell table and communicating the reassigned data table location references;
• and
• displaying the sorted data cells according to selected cell fill color and the reassigned data table location references.