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Level 1

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Numbers: Sorting a column with formulas

Hello and thanks in advance for your help, here is a part of my table full of formulas as you can see on the bottom:

I would like to sort this table by date. I don't know if this is important, but there is a filter on, hiding for example row 3-21 because there is no text in it.

When I try to sort it the "normal" way

this happens:

Some rows disappear! And to make it even more confusing: They come back when I resort, but unsorted:

I hope someone knows or understands my problem and can help me...
Greets from Germany!

MacBook Pro, OS X Yosemite (10.10.3)

Posted on Jun 28, 2015 1:50 PM

18 replies

Blancaforthh Author

Level 1

0 points

Aug 13, 2015 8:41 AM in response to Blancaforthh

Hello all,

it is a little late but I have to thank you all for your great help. I ended up in a new table like some of you suggested without formulas. I can now handle it by filtering with the standard filters.

Maybe in a few updates we can sort the formulas again like in older versions. without any Index bypasses... By the way: It worked with the INDEX formulas but was too confusing/complex for me at the end...

Again, thanks for your help,
Blancaforthh

SGIII

Level 8

35,348 points

Aug 13, 2015 9:33 AM in response to Blancaforthh

Blancaforthh wrote:

Maybe in a few updates we can sort the formulas again like in older versions. without any Index bypasses... By the way: It worked with the INDEX formulas but was too confusing/complex for me at the end...

Hi Blancaforthh,

Glad you found a way to use the built-in filtering capability, which is an easy-to-use but powerful tool.

Though none of us know what Apple will do with future versions, going back to the old Numbers sorting behavior would be confusing to users familiar with Excel and other spreadsheet programs that use the "new" sorting method (which does have its advantages in many situations).

t quinn

Level 5

7,043 points

Aug 13, 2015 9:34 PM in response to Blancaforthh

Hi Blancaforthh,

The single table is a good foundation for your sheet.

I hope in the future you will reconsider using the INDEX/MATCH formula for extracting data from your table. It is not as complex as it first looks.

quinn

Numbers: Sorting a column with formulas