sorting date by Date column not working properly

dandoghi

Hello.

I am sorting by date, on a Date column with info entered only in date format, by 'locking to date only".

I choose descending and I should get (based on the kind of data I have in the Database) 2020, 2019, 2018, 2017, in proper sequence, but what I get seems to be random. I need this to work so I could generate a 'filtered' content to be shared with others.

Please advise.

Thanks.

Dan

Paul Newcome

The parent rows will be sorted first. Then the Child rows will be sorted under the parent rows and will stay under the each of the parent rows.

Think of it as sections.

1

1a

1b

1c

2

2a

2b

2c

The 1's will be sorted together underneath of the 1 parent row and same for the 2's. Then 1 and 2 will sort between each other but 1's child rows will stay under the 1 parent row and 2's child rows will stay under the 2 parent row.

Andrée Starå

Hi @dandoghi

Another option could be to create a report instead.

Would that work?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Andrée Starå

@dandoghi

Happy to help!

More info about reports.

https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/smartsheet-intermediate/reports

Paul Newcome

Do you have any hierarchy in the sheet?

dandoghi

Hi Paul, thanks for checking on this.

Yes, I do, plenty of hierarchies, as the DB is structured in the primary column by Countries, under which the entries are inserted. Is this why the sorting is not working?

Those Country rows are empty on all other columns, except the primary one, which I guess should (not having data in the Date column) should be counted for blank and not considered in the sorting?

Best,

Dan

Paul Newcome

The parent rows will be sorted first. Then the Child rows will be sorted under the parent rows and will stay under the each of the parent rows.

Think of it as sections.

1

1a

1b

1c

2

2a

2b

2c

The 1's will be sorted together underneath of the 1 parent row and same for the 2's. Then 1 and 2 will sort between each other but 1's child rows will stay under the 1 parent row and 2's child rows will stay under the 2 parent row.

dandoghi

Thanks a lot Paul! Much appreciated.

I understand now, though there should be some more straightforward and simple way of sorting data data happens to be indented; at least some more options; I hope Smartsheet will develop such.

Meanwhile, I saved the smartsheet as new, added a new column date and copied the adjacent original Date one, and created a filter to exclude date outside 1 Jan to 31 Dec 2019 range --> deleted that and all left was my 2019 data, which then I could expert to excel and have ca 40 entries, from hundreds...

Too much improvisation :)

Paul Newcome

You should be able to filter and then export only the visible rows which would negate the need to create a separate sheet.

Andrée Starå

Hi @dandoghi

Another option could be to create a report instead.

Would that work?

I hope that helps!

Be safe and have a fantastic week!

Best,

Andrée Starå | Workflow Consultant / CEO @ WORK BOLD

✅Did my post(s) help or answer your question or solve your problem? Please help the Community by marking it as the accepted answer/helpful. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

dandoghi

Tried that, as first thing, but it does not work. It copied everything, then it shows then filtered in excel, but it comes with all hidden data together, and thus this improvising; I guess there might be some simpler ways to learn than mine (which for now it helped me). I saw this exporting flaw reported similarly on the net my by many other users...

Thanks

dandoghi

https://community.smartsheet.com/discussion/comment/257790#Comment_257790

Thanks, Andree!

I'll try that, but first I'll need to learn a bit on creating a report...

Andrée Starå

@dandoghi

Happy to help!

More info about reports.

https://help.smartsheet.com/learning-track/smartsheet-intermediate/reports

Doug Mounce

Does this mean that the sort is not on a whole number but on the appearance of the number in a date format? Like this?

1/1/21

2/1/21

12/1/21

3/1/21

Paul Newcome

@Doug Mounce No. The dates should be sorted by the actual dates and not necessarily the appearance of the date. Using the dates you provided and sorting in ascending order without taking into account any hierarchies would yield:

1/1/21

2/1/21

3/1/21

12/1/21