Apache OpenOffice (AOO) Bugzilla – Issue 10933
Data sorting by using more than 3 items (columns)
Last modified: 2013-08-07 15:12:27 UTC
At the moment it is possible to sort at once the data in the selected range by max. 3 specified items, columns respectively. For me this is very inconvenient as I have more sorting parameters than 3 columns only. So, I have to do consecutive sorting. I would be nice to be able to specify more than 3 items for sorting. One solution would be that all used columns are listed in a table. To each of the table entries a priority and sorting direction (ascending/descending) can be entered. Another solution would be to use a similar layout as right now but that there are up and down scroll buttons that allow to enter more than 3 items for sortings.
Hi Bettina, one4you
Summary: Data sorting by using more than 3 items (columns). This issue is considered for OO.o later.
Will verify that this is still required and that sorting can be done only for three columns. James McKenzie
related to issue 22884
Note that issue 22884 is about stable sorting, not about having a way to sort on more than three columns in one go. Stable sorting is important, and can be helpful when you are limited to sorting on only three columns, but making the sorting algorithm stable does not really solve the issue of wanting to sort on more than three columns. (Just so folks know that solving *this* issue will still be important, even after the stable sorting issue is fixed.)
Data sorting for more than 3 columns is still impossible in version 3.x and I still miss it
I have to agree that sorting by more than 3 criteria is important. My users ask fairly frequently why Calc can only sort by 3, and I have to say that I don't know why there is that arbitrary limitation. Using a "database" is beyond their skill sets. Can't it be changed to allow pretty much unlimited sort keys? Or at least bump it up to 4 or 5? It doesn't seem like bumping it up a few would be too difficult, plus in 3.X the dialog box is already big enough to easily hold 4 and the sort function doesn't seem to affect or play on any other code in Calc...
I did want to point out that although you can't perform ONE sort operation by more than three criteria in Calc, you *can* sort by more than three criteria, it requires multiple sort operations with this "workaround": *Example- sorting by 4 criteria: First sort your data only your LEAST important (4th) criteria. Then sort the data again, by the first three criteria. *Example- sorting by 5 criteria: Sort first by the 4th and 5th criteria. Then sort again by 1st through 3rd criteria. This works, although many users just won't know this method, and/or won't find it convenient or intuitive.
Cause of the shiny new world with all the super-interoperable software, I have to use spreadsheets very often to translate data between different programs. Beside different types of dates, strings and such things, to sort is very important thing. To be able to sort more than 3 columns would help me a lot, especially with tables where just the date consists of 3 fields for day, month and year. I could break up my sorts sure, but I have to have other things in mind then just 2 sorts in a row with the right order, besides it is annoying to reconfigure the sort everytime.
To grep the issues easier via "requirements" I put the issues currently lying on my owner to the owner "requirements".