RESOLVED - misunderstanding of field requirements

[Justus_Stewart]

Please remove sorting as a default requirement for creating groups. It seems totally unnecessary, and is problematic. Why does the Group function require sorting? If I create, say, 100 entries in 10 categories, why can’t I group them by category in the order I entered them?

Currently, AT automatically orders them alphabetically, with my only options being A-Z or Z-A. Alphabetical ordering is often completely inappropriate to the content! This means I have to do a clunky workaround by creating an artificial numbered column just to get them to stay in the correct order.

The Group function and the Sort function should be wholly independent. Please fix.

Thanks!

[Matt_Bush]

If you group or sort by a single select field, the order of the field’s options can be customized in the field’s configuration menu. Then, the order of groups or records is based off of that customizable order - which can be the order you entered them in, alphabetical order, or another order of your choosing.

Given that your category field has 10 categories, a single select field type should be appropriate.

[Justus_Stewart]

Thanks for the fast reply. I’m pretty new to AT, so maybe I’m just missing something? What do you mean the field’s ‘configuration menu’? Do you mean I need to change the field type? Right now it’s single line text. I’m still not seeing anywhere I can tell it how to order the categories.

[Katherine_Duh]

So first, you’ll need to change the field type from single line text to single select. Then, you can arrange the category options as you please in order to have the grouped records appear in the order you want them to.

[Justus_Stewart]

Perfect - thank you!