Why is JOIN assembling items out of order?

Pat Canning

I have two columns, "Ovrst" and "Gov" with the same formula for different input column ranges. Both are multi-select columns. I'm joining values from their respective columns & cells into a single cell. Even though the JOIN function lists the cells in numerical order (top to bottom - 18-27), the resulting JOIN value has them out-of-order (18,19,23,21,20). Why?

Same formula but in a stacked form for easier reading. You can see all the IF statements are alike and the rows are taken in order.

Paul Newcome

Have you tried removing the JOIN function? If you are "adding" the cells together anyway, you do not need the JOIN function.

There is also something with multi-select dropdowns where (usually) they output each piece in alphabetical order, but it doesn't seem to be the case this time unless they are treating caps vs non-caps differently.

Pat Canning

Just tried it. No change in effect.

Paul Newcome

Ok. It usually outputs in alphabetical order, but it seems like it is treating the first two as a group and then the last three as a separate group. You may need to reach out to support to figure that piece out, but there is going to be no way to "un-alphabetize" the selections made in a multi-select column.