Sorting not working properly

Brant Casteel

Trying to sort a sheet alphabetically by a single column. Most of the column sorts alphabetically, but some values do not. Examples: In one Smartsheet, I sort by customer name. All customers sort correctly except for three which start with N and go to the top ahead of customers starting with A.

In another Smartheet, all customers sort alphabetically except for a group of 20 which drop to the bottom and then start their own alphabetical list. Case (upper vs mixed) does not matter.

Andrée Starå

Hi @Brant Casteel

I hope you're well and safe!

Strange!

Can you describe your process in more detail and maybe share the sheet(s)/copies of the sheet(s) or some screenshots? (Delete/replace any confidential/sensitive information before sharing) That would make it easier to help. (share too, andree@workbold.com)

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 support the Community by marking it Insightful/Vote Up or/and as the accepted answer. It will make it easier for others to find a solution or help to answer!

Brant Casteel

It's difficult to share the data as it contains customer list information, but I can give you a small screenshot with part of the customer name blocked out. In the grid view, I have sorted the sheet by Customer name. At the top, you can see that there are three values that start with "N" before the rest of the list (in alphabetical order) starts. I don't know why these customer names with N won't sort with the rest of the sheet.

Andrée Starå

@Brant Casteel

Have you double-clicked on them to check, so there isn't any strange character or something?

Brant Casteel

Yes. I've even tried completely clearing/deleting the field and manually typing the name in. It does not change the sort behavior.

Andrée Starå

@Brant Casteel

Have you tried to sort it again?

Brant Casteel

Yes. I've even tried sorting by other fields and then coming back to sort by this one. I've tried sorting in reverse order then back to ascending, etc.

Andrée Starå

@Brant Casteel

What column type is the Customer Name column?

Brant Casteel

Text/Number

Sally Chavez

I had a sheet that would not sort correctly, and noticed a tiny message when I tried to sort telling me that it would sort like the drop down values were entered.

The lines I added had values that were not in the drop down list, and once I added them (in the order I wanted, in this case, alpha order), it sorted properly.

Marco Moura

I faced the same problem today and came to the Community to check, and found the reason and the solution, thanks to Sally Chavez post (02/03/22).

If the column type is a dropdown list, Smartsheet follows the order of that list to sort by.