How can I sort 4 fields at a time

[Deb T]

I have to sort by country: within country by category: within category by
Product: within product by order date! My book says I must make 2 passes? How
do I do this and have all the information still match to where it belongs.

[CLR]

Using a helper column, you can CONCATENATE two columns together (then do
Copy > PasteSpecial > Values to get rid of the formulas), and when you sort
using that helper column it acts like sorting on 2 columns at once.....

hth
Vaya con Dios,
Chuck, CABGx3



"Deb T" <Deb [email protected]> wrote in message
news:[email protected]...
> I have to sort by country: within country by category: within category by
> Product: within product by order date! My book says I must make 2 passes?
How
> do I do this and have all the information still match to where it belongs.

[Debra Dalgleish]

Select all the data in the table
Choose Data>Sort
Sort by Order Date, and click OK
With all the data still selected, choose Data>Sort
Sort by Country, then by Category, then by Product
Click OK

Deb T wrote:
> I have to sort by country: within country by category: within category by
> Product: within product by order date! My book says I must make 2 passes? How
> do I do this and have all the information still match to where it belongs.


--
Debra Dalgleish
Contextures
http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html

[Deb T]

Thank You for your help. I am sure I will be back as I am a student if Excel .
Why did you choose the order you did?

"Debra Dalgleish" wrote:

> Select all the data in the table
> Choose Data>Sort
> Sort by Order Date, and click OK
> With all the data still selected, choose Data>Sort
> Sort by Country, then by Category, then by Product
> Click OK
>
> Deb T wrote:
> > I have to sort by country: within country by category: within category by
> > Product: within product by order date! My book says I must make 2 passes? How
> > do I do this and have all the information still match to where it belongs.
>
>
> --
> Debra Dalgleish
> Contextures
> http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html
>
>

[Patricia Shannon]

You have to make the number of passes as there are sorts.
You have to make the passes in the reverse order or significance.
You have to have the most significant sort (country) to be the last one; any
sorts after that would mess it up. Similarly for the next most significant
sort
To see what is going on:
!) Make up some data by hand, with several combinations of duplicates for
each category, including duplicates of combinations. You could even make up
some index card with the combinations.
2) Then shuffle them up good.
3) Lay them down, face up.
4) Pick up one at a time, and put it in sequence by order date. If there is
more than one with the same order date, put the later ones at the back of the
group with the same order date, so the ones in a group with the same date
remain in the sequence they were in.
5) When you have them sorted by order date, place the stack face up on the
table, and start picking them up and putting them in order by product.
Ignore all other fields, but make sure that when you pick up a card that has
the same product as one in your hand, you put it behind the others with that
product; that way for a group with the same product, they will be in sequence
by order date.
6)When you are finished, your cards will be in sequence by product. For
each product, they will be in sequence by order date.
By this time, you will hopefully see what is happening.
7)If not, continue the process with category, making sure to keep cards with
the same category in the order they were in.
When finished, they will be order by category/product/order date.

In the days of punched cards, we had to run them through the card sorter at
least once for each character, in reverse order. For alphanumeric data, we
had to run each column through 3 or 4 times! Not much fun sorting on
employee number followed by employee name!

"Deb T" wrote:

> Thank You for your help. I am sure I will be back as I am a student if Excel .
> Why did you choose the order you did?
>
> "Debra Dalgleish" wrote:
>
> > Select all the data in the table
> > Choose Data>Sort
> > Sort by Order Date, and click OK
> > With all the data still selected, choose Data>Sort
> > Sort by Country, then by Category, then by Product
> > Click OK
> >
> > Deb T wrote:
> > > I have to sort by country: within country by category: within category by
> > > Product: within product by order date! My book says I must make 2 passes? How
> > > do I do this and have all the information still match to where it belongs.
> >
> >
> > --
> > Debra Dalgleish
> > Contextures
> > http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html
> >
> >

[Debra Dalgleish]

You can sort up to three fields at a time. If you need to sort by more
than three fields, sort the least significant fields first. In your
example, you want to sort by
1. Country
2. Category
3. Product
4. Order Date

Since Order Date is last on the list, it's least significant, so sort it
first.
The other three fields can be sorted at the same time, in the same order
as they appear in your list.
There's another example here:

http://www.contextures.com/xlSort01.html#Sort04


Deb T wrote:
> Thank You for your help. I am sure I will be back as I am a student if Excel .
> Why did you choose the order you did?
>
> "Debra Dalgleish" wrote:
>
>
>>Select all the data in the table
>>Choose Data>Sort
>>Sort by Order Date, and click OK
>>With all the data still selected, choose Data>Sort
>>Sort by Country, then by Category, then by Product
>>Click OK
>>
>>Deb T wrote:
>>
>>>I have to sort by country: within country by category: within category by
>>>Product: within product by order date! My book says I must make 2 passes? How
>>>do I do this and have all the information still match to where it belongs.
>>
>>
>>--
>>Debra Dalgleish
>>Contextures
>>http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html
>>
>>
>


--
Debra Dalgleish
Contextures
http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html

[Patricia Shannon]

Debra, of course you're right. So that does make two sorts. Hopefully my
explanation helps her to see why to sort the least significant fields first,
if you have to do more than one pass. Learning to work things through
manually, to get a real understanding, is a valuable skill.

"Debra Dalgleish" wrote:

> You can sort up to three fields at a time. If you need to sort by more
> than three fields, sort the least significant fields first. In your
> example, you want to sort by
> 1. Country
> 2. Category
> 3. Product
> 4. Order Date
>
> Since Order Date is last on the list, it's least significant, so sort it
> first.
> The other three fields can be sorted at the same time, in the same order
> as they appear in your list.
> There's another example here:
>
> http://www.contextures.com/xlSort01.html#Sort04
>
>
> Deb T wrote:
> > Thank You for your help. I am sure I will be back as I am a student if Excel .
> > Why did you choose the order you did?
> >
> > "Debra Dalgleish" wrote:
> >
> >
> >>Select all the data in the table
> >>Choose Data>Sort
> >>Sort by Order Date, and click OK
> >>With all the data still selected, choose Data>Sort
> >>Sort by Country, then by Category, then by Product
> >>Click OK
> >>
> >>Deb T wrote:
> >>
> >>>I have to sort by country: within country by category: within category by
> >>>Product: within product by order date! My book says I must make 2 passes? How
> >>>do I do this and have all the information still match to where it belongs.
> >>
> >>
> >>--
> >>Debra Dalgleish
> >>Contextures
> >>http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html
> >>
> >>
> >
>
>
> --
> Debra Dalgleish
> Contextures
> http://www.contextures.com/tiptech.html
>
>