Contact Column not Alphabetized in Form Dropdown

Tamara K

I have a sheet with a contact column.

When I view the dropdown options for that column from within the sheet, they appear in alphabetical order. They are also in alphabetical order when I view them from the "Edit Column Properties" window.

When I use that field in a form, the dropdown options are NOT in alphabetical order. Given that we have a large number of options, this is very problematic to sift through. Please tell me I'm just doing something wrong.

Mike Wilday

If there is a dropdown list in the contact column you had to of pre-populated it in the column properties. Try right-clicking on the column header and see if the contacts are all listed in alphabetical order there. If so, then it is sorting the contacts by their first name rather than their email address. When I was looking at my contacts list to search for a contact, I noticed that all emails without a first name are sorted first, then by the first name. 

Mike Wilday

Actually, it looks like it sorts them by the order they are entered. 

Mike Wilday

Nope, I am wrong, after you close the column properties it is sorting them by their first name. Make sure you add a first and last name to the each contact in your list and you should see your list sorted by First Name which appears to be the default for Smartsheets. 

Tamara K

Hi Mike,

Thanks for your responses!

Yes, you're right that it is sorting by first name when you view the dropdown on the sheet itself. The problem arises when you pull this field into a Form. If you preview the form, the dropdown is no longer sorted alphabetized by first name.

 

Mike Wilday

Yes, you are right!

From my testing it is listing them in the order they were added to the column properties. I would put your list together in a spreadsheet, in order by first name, and reenter the list. .

Then I would report this to Smartsheet support as a bug and request a product enhancement. 

Tamara K

Thanks for validating, Mike!

I've just done both of the requests you suggested...hopefully this will be an easy fix! Again - appreciate your time.

 

Tamara