Change order in rollup function

[Manuel_Gnerlich]

Hello everybody,

at first I set one column in my table 1 so that I can link it to items of records from a different table 2 (via multi-linking to record). Then I wish to fill a different column in table 1 through rollup function with another matching item of the same records from table 2. Problem is, that the order inside the rollup column is automatically opposite to the order in the first column linking to the record. I would like to have the same order in both columns, but I cannot set anything about the order connected to the rollup function.

Can anybody help, please?

[Stephen_Joslyn]

Hi @kuovonne ,
There is still a bug with the Batch Update. I have it sorting the linked records in ascending order (smallest to biggest) but this is an example of it after Batch Update: 10082, 22354, 22355, 8534, 9295, 9296
Expected: 8534, 9295, 9296, 10082, 22354, 22355

As you can tell the first digit for each appears to be in ascending order, but the entire number set are not. I have to correct many of mine manually.

Just letting you know. Great app otherwise.

[kuovonne]

@Stephen_Joslyn It looks like the linked records are being sorted alphabetically when you want a numeric sort. Can you share a screen capture of the primary field of the linked table? It may be that Airtable thinks that your primary field is a text string instead of a number.

[Stephen_Joslyn]

The linked records are auto numbers field. I assume that’s numbers, no?

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[kuovonne]

@Stephen_Joslyn You are right. I just did some tests and the Batch update app sorts linked records alphabetically, even if they are numbers.

I suspect that this occurs because under the hood, the primary field of a record is stored as a text string in a linked record field, and this text string is being used for the sort. The app does not go back to the original primary field to determine the field type.

I have written an app “Sort Linked Records” that will properly sort linked records. This app is currently in review with Airtable and will eventually be released on the Marketplace, although I do not know when.

[Michael1]

So in the end, is it possible to reorder this Rollup field for example? Logically my last test, should be on top, and not on the bottom of this field.

Also, I want to see my latest Test result, not the very first one.

[kuovonne]

Michael1:

So in the end, is it possible to reorder this Rollup field for example?

It is possible, but not necessarily easy.

• The Batch Update app will only do an alphabetical sort, and only based on the primary field. This requires reworking your primary field in the linked table.

• My app for sorting linked records is still under review with Airtable.

• Manually sorting each individual linked record field isn’t realistic.

• That leaves scripting. I do have an automation script that will sort linked records, but it will only work on newly triggered records, not existing records.

[Karlstens]

That Batch Update extension looks super useful, thanks for sharing @kuovonne

As its unfortunately limited by only sorting alphabetically (and not via a lookup field of the value for example) I believe it’s limited in scope.

An example -Take the colours of a rainbow :rainbow: .

Perhaps I have a Colours Table, each record consisting of the colours name and their physical order in a number field (Red (1), orange (2), yellow (3), green (4), blue (5), indigo (6), violet (7) ).

I then have a “Rainbows” table, where each record may only consist of 3 colours - however, the colours must always remain in physical order from the Colours Table.

The Batch Update Extension is limited to only allow for the sorting of the colour in each record by name; blue, green, indigo, orange, red, violet, yellow.

So records are created could be (or they could be Batch Sorted to…) ;
[green, red, violet]
[blue, indigo, orange]

But how to process them in their correct physical order of;
[Red, green, violet]
[Orange, blue, indigo]

I so very much wish that lookup core sorting functionality is added to Linked Record fields. The fact that I can manually drag and drop my linked colours so that they’re in the order of a rainbow tells me that Airtable could potentially add a sort feature to this column… it’s crazy useful, and many users would benefit from it.

[kuovonne]

Karlstens:

I so very much wish that lookup core sorting functionality is added to Linked Record fields.
…
it’s crazy useful, and many users would benefit from it.

Airtable has not yet added this functionality. That’s why I wrote that automation script I linked to in my previous post.

[Partyborn]

This small but useful feature is absolutely missing!

[Matt_Kennedy1]

This hack works for simple values, w/out scripting, and could possibly be adapted for more complex purposes.