Keep Column Sorted in Google Sheets.gs

/**
 * This Google Sheets script keeps data in the specified column sorted any time
 * the data changes.
 *
 * After much research, there wasn't an easy way to automatically keep a column
 * sorted in Google Sheets, and creating a second sheet to act as a "view" to
 * my primary one in order to achieve that was not an option. Instead, I
 * created a script that watches for when a cell is edited and triggers
 * an auto sort.
 *
 * To Install:
 *   1. Open your Google Sheet.
 *   2. Navigate to Tools > Script editor…
 *   3. Copy and paste this script in the editor.
 *   4. Change the three constants at the start of the code below to reflect
 *      your preferences.
 *      - Note: My goal is to move these settings to a GUI and have this script
 *              be installable as an add-on.
 *   5. Give the script a name (e.g. "Keep Data Sorted") and hit save.
 *
 * To Use:
 *   Simply edit your Google Sheet like normal. Any time you edit data in your
 *   sort column (specified in `SORT_COLUMN_INDEX`), the script will re-sort
 *   your rows.
 *
 *   If you are having trouble getting it to work, try the following in order:
 *     1. Reload your spreadsheet.
 *     2. Open the script editor (Tools > Script editor…), click the "Select
 *        function" dropdown, choose `onInstall`, and hit Debug (the bug icon
 *        that precedes the dropdown).
 *     3. If that doesn't work, reach out via GitHub (link below) and ask for
 *        help. You may also find that others have run into the same issue
 *        and have already posted a solution.
 *
 * @author Mike Branski (@mikebranski)
 * @link https://gist.github.com/mikebranski/285b60aa5ec3da8638e5
 *
 * @OnlyCurrentDoc Limits the script to only accessing the current spreadsheet.
 */

// The numeric index of the column you wish to keep auto-sorted. A = 1, B = 2,
// and so on.
var SORT_COLUMN_INDEX = 2;
// Whether to sort the data in ascending or descending order.
var ASCENDING = false;
// If you have header rows in your sheet, specify how many to exclude them from
// the sort.
var NUMBER_OF_HEADER_ROWS = 1;

// No need to edit anything below this line for general use.
// Make an improvement? Ping me on GitHub and let me know!

// Keep track of the active sheet.
var activeSheet;

/**
 * Automatically sorts on the pre-defined column.
 *
 * @param {Sheet} sheet The sheet to sort.
 */
function autoSort(sheet) {
  // Get the entire set of data for this sheet.
  var range = sheet.getDataRange();

  // Then, if there are any header rows, offset our range to remove them from
  // it; otherwise, they will end up being sorted as well.
  if (NUMBER_OF_HEADER_ROWS > 0) {
    // Setting the second parameter of offset() to 0 to prevents it from
    // shifting any columns. Note that row headers wouldn't make much
    // sense here, but this is where you would modify it if you
    // wanted support for those as well.
    range = range.offset(NUMBER_OF_HEADER_ROWS, 0);
  }

  // Perform the actual sort.
  range.sort( {
    column: SORT_COLUMN_INDEX,
    ascending: ASCENDING
  } );
}

/**
 * Triggers when a sheet is edited, and calls the auto sort function if the
 * edited cell is in the column we're looking to sort.
 *
 * @param {Object} event The triggering event.
 */
function onEdit(event) {
  var editedCell;

  // Update the active sheet in case it changed.
  activeSheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
  // Get the cell that was just modified.
  editedCell = activeSheet.getActiveCell();

  // Only trigger a re-sort if the user edited data in the column they're
  // sorting by; otherwise, we perform unnecessary additional sorts if
  // the targeted sort column's data didn't change.
  if (editedCell.getColumn() == SORT_COLUMN_INDEX) {
    autoSort(activeSheet);
  }
}

/**
 * Runs when the sheet is opened.
 *
 * @param {Object} event The triggering event.
 */
function onOpen(event) {
  activeSheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSheet();
  autoSort(activeSheet);
}

/**
 * Runs when the add-on is installed; calls onOpen() to ensure any initializion
 * work is done immediately.
 *
 * @param {Object} event The triggering event.
 */
function onInstall(event) {
  onOpen(event);
}

Hi! I've been trying to figure this out for about an hour--for some reason the code is not being triggered. When I run the script it goes through, but nothing is happening on the sheet itself. Please help!

Can someone help on this error? How can it be fixed?

The coordinates of the range are outside the dimensions of the sheet.

Hey Mike! I am a little new to coding so forgive me. I am trying to run this but it is sending new values straight to the top excluding header rows. Any advice is appreciated, thank you.

Hello, I have made a budget and used this script, but i am having an issue where it is working very well where it needs but i need it to only work on that one sheet as i have 4 different sheets in the whole spreadsheet. is there a way to keep it bound to that specific sheet?

How do you do specific sheets? I am doing the fix for 1 sheet but now I want it to apply to a few others.

I have this now and it works,
//var required_sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("2024"); //var range = required_sheet.getDataRange();

Now I have tabs for 2022, 2023 and will eventually have 2025, 2026

How do you do specific sheets? I am doing the fix for 1 sheet but now I want it to apply to a few others.

I have this now and it works, //var required_sheet = SpreadsheetApp.getActiveSpreadsheet().getSheetByName("2024"); //var range = required_sheet.getDataRange();

Now I have tabs for 2022, 2023 and will eventually have 2025, 2026

I was able to get this to work and posted the answer here: https://stackoverflow.com/questions/79012570/get-multiple-sheets-by-name-in-google-sheets/79014679#79014679