How to sort three columns of data at the same time, while making Column 1 weighted higher priority?

How to sort three columns of data at the same time, while making Column 1 weighted higher priority, Column 2 weighted middle priority, and column 3 the lowest priority? My current method which is not working fully is giving each piece a value from 1 to 5 in Story Potential and Difficulty. Percentage Done is in increments of 10. I then made a Rank column with a simple math formula. But I guess it’s too simple.


Also maybe I should make all the values from 10 to 100 for best practices?



The Story Potential is the most important, Difficulty is the second priority, and Percentage Done the least. But I may swap the priorities of Difficulty and Percentage Done.

iPad Pro, iPadOS 15

Posted on Mar 15, 2023 5:32 PM

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Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Posted on Mar 15, 2023 7:52 PM

Here's one way to sort using your priorities.


Briefly described, the method is to reduce the sort values to a single value determined by the relative importance of the three values to be considered.


Here is your original table (with column labels reduced to initials to reduce typing here).


I've added two columns: Sort, containing the values determining the sort position of each line, and "initial order", added for my convenience to easily restore the original order of the rows in your table.


The formula below is entered in E2, and filled down column E to E14:



Click the header cell (E1) to select all cells (except the cell in the header row), then hover the pointer near the right end of the column reference tab. When the wide V appears, click and hold on it, then choose the Sort Descending menu item in the local menu to sort the table, based on the values in the Sort column.


Result when sorted:


Regards,

Barry

5 replies
Question marked as Top-ranking reply

Mar 15, 2023 7:52 PM in response to Michael Stancato

Here's one way to sort using your priorities.


Briefly described, the method is to reduce the sort values to a single value determined by the relative importance of the three values to be considered.


Here is your original table (with column labels reduced to initials to reduce typing here).


I've added two columns: Sort, containing the values determining the sort position of each line, and "initial order", added for my convenience to easily restore the original order of the rows in your table.


The formula below is entered in E2, and filled down column E to E14:



Click the header cell (E1) to select all cells (except the cell in the header row), then hover the pointer near the right end of the column reference tab. When the wide V appears, click and hold on it, then choose the Sort Descending menu item in the local menu to sort the table, based on the values in the Sort column.


Result when sorted:


Regards,

Barry

Mar 16, 2023 5:52 PM in response to Barry

Thank you Barry. I think I understand. I will experiment with what you sent to get a better idea. In the mean time:

  1. I revised the table to use the same value scales throughout 10-100.
  2. I matched the colors of the table values to the chart values.
  3. I changed the chart to a stacked bar with my most important value “Story Potential” on top.


Maybe this accomplishes what I want. I will have to experiment with it myself and hopefully test it with others.

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How to sort three columns of data at the same time, while making Column 1 weighted higher priority?

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