Sort Data

Sorting helps create clear, effective views and supports meaningful data analysis. You can sort your data in several ways depending on your goals. To control sorting, you need to understand two key settings: the sort direction applied to a field, and the value type used to determine how values are compared

Sort Option	Description
Sort Order	Arrange values in ascending or descending order.
Sort based on	Specify whether the field is sorted by code, description, or its default display format.
Advanced Options	Apply custom sorting and grouping rules.
Sort Pivots	Sort values inside pivot tables.
Sort Columns	Sort data by displayed columns in worksheets.

Sort Order

Sort Order controls whether your data appears in ascending (A–Z, 0–9) or descending (Z–A, 9–0) order. By default, data is sorted in ascending order.

To change the sort order, right-click a field in Groups or Categories sectoin of the view organizer and select your preferred sort direction.

If the field displays data as a code-description format, such as 123 - Company ABC, sorting is performed using the code. If the description comes before the code, the sort uses the description instead. In general, sorting always uses the code if it’s present and visible.

Sort based on

Sort based on lets you organize grouped data by choosing which part of the value—code, description, or default display format—is used to determine the sort order.

By default, sorting follows the field’s description format. For example, if the format is code–description, sorting uses the code. You can override this by explicitly choosing to sort by the code or description, without changing the displayed format.

To sort by description, you have two options depending on whether you want to display the code:

Sort by description and hide the code

Use this method if you want to sort by description and display only the name:

1. In the Toolbar panel to the right, expand the Groups section.
2. Select the field.
3. Set the Description format to Description.

Sort by description and show the code

Use this method if you want to sort by description but still show the code.

1. In the Toolbar panel to the right, expand the Groups section.
2. Select the field.
3. Keep the current Description format to Code-Description.
4. Set the Sort based on option to Description.

Sort based on options

Option	Description
Default	Sorts values by the default description associated with the code.
Code	Sorts values by the group’s code.
Description	Sorts values by the group’s description.

Sort based on example

➤ Example – Sorting customers
Suppose you have a list of customers displayed as C001 - Z Company, C002 - A Company, and so on. By default, sorting is based on the code, so the the order is C001 - Z Company and C002 - A Company. To sort this list in ascending order by customer name, while keeping the code visible:

1. In the Toolbar panel on the right, select Properties.
2. Expand the customer field.
3. Make sure the Description Format is set to Code-Description.
4. In Sort based on, select Description.
5. Select ascending in Sort Order as needed.
   This display still shows values as C001 - Z Company, now the list is sorted alphabetically by name: C002 - A company, C001 - Z Company. This allow you to keep all identifying details visible while presenting your data in your preferred order.

Description Format

The Description Format setting controls how dimension fields appear in grouped visualizations. It lets you choose the combination and order of the following elements:

Element	Description	Example
Title	The label or name of the field	Customer Code
Description	The descriptive value linked to the field	Customer Name
Code	The actual value of the field	123

Available description formats

Format	Example
Default	Uses the format set for the field in the Data Model Designer.
Title Code Description	Customer Code: 123 Company ABC
Title Description Code	Customer Code: Company ABC 123
Title Code	Customer Code: 123
Title Description	Customer Code: Company ABC
Title-Code-Description	Customer Code: 123 - Company ABC
Title-Description-Code	Customer Code: Company ABC - 123
Title-Description	Customer Code: Company ABC
Code Description	123 Company ABC
Code	123
Code-Description	123 - Company ABC
Description	Company ABC
Description Code	Company ABC 123
Description-Code	Company ABC - 123

Description format example

➤ Example – Customer Code: 123 Company ABC
If you group by Customer Code, and the description is the customer's name, selecting the Title Code Description format displays:

Customer Code: 123 Company ABC

This format helps you quickly identify grouped values by showing both the code and descriptive name, making reports easier to read and reducing ambiguity—especially when codes alone may not be meaningful.

Advanced Options

Use Advanced Options to sort or group data using custom logic—such as showing only top results or aggregating the rest into an Others category.

Advanced Options properties

Property	Description
Show First	Limit the number of group values displayed. Based on the sort order, only the top entries appear. Remaining values can be grouped under Others.
Display "Others" for remaining values	Show or hide the Others group. If cleareed, the aggregated group is hidden. Depending on the view type, the Others option may appear automatically.
Sort group on aggregated value	Sort groups by the values of specific measures. Drag one or more measures into the sort area and set the order to ascending (ASC) or descending (DESC).

Advanced Options example

➤ Example – Show the top 10 products by Quantity Sold
You want to display only the top 10 products by Quantity Sold in a bar chart that displays sales data. The chart uses the Product, Values, Dollar, Margin, and Cost fields.

1. Right-click the Product field in the Groups section.
2. Select Advanced Options.
3. In the sort area, drag the Quantity Sold measure and set the order to descending (DESC).
4. Enable Show First and enter 10.
5. Select Display "Others" for remaining values to show the aggregated group for the remaining products.
6. Select Confirm.
   The chart now displays only the top 10 products by quantity sold, along with an optional Others column.

Sort Pivots

To sort values inside pivot tables, right-click a pivot field and choose Sort Ascending or Sort Descending. This helps you highlight key patterns in your data and improves readability.

Sort Columns

Sorting worksheet columns controls the order in which data rows appears. You can sort any column in ascending or descending order. The sort is applied to the last visible level of grouped data. When sorting by multiple columns, the sort follows their left-to-right order on screen.

Before sorting, review your column layout to ensure important fields appear first and influence the sort logic.