[LH1877] Sorting Columns in Outliner View

In Mac V3 you can click on any column in Outliner View to sort by that column.

This function does not appear to work in Win V 3, and I couldn’t find any reference in docs.

Is this correct, and if so is it intended to add, or not feasible?

Yikes, you’re right. This is basic column functionality and it really ought to be there.

If you select only the root container sorting is not possible at the moment. Still if you select the your desired items in the Binder, sorting the Outliner columns is possible.

Tiho said,

Could you explain what you mean? I have a section, not the binder root. I have a column with names and another date column. I can’t get it to sort on either one. Is there some special magic Mac way of sorting I don’t know about? I’ve tried the Windows way of clicking on the column header, also right clicking and Alt- clicking.

using beta 22

Imagine the Binder Structure:

Folder A

File 1
File 2
File 3

If you select Folder A in the Binder, the items in the Outliner(File 1, File 2, File 3) will not be sortable.

but if you select in the Binder - File 1, File 2, File 3, they will also appear in the Outliner as above, but this time the columns are sortable.

OK. Bizarre. I never would have thought to select the individual files otherwise the columns don’t work. I really think that if stuff is in an outline, the columns should sort regardless of how you got there.

However, Sort by date doesn’t work in either case, which is what I really wanted. If dates are added as metadata, then added to the outline, they should be able to be used for sort. I Have things that need to be done by certain dates. I add those dates to the files, then putting them in an outline, but not being able to sort by date is moderately frustrating.

You are correct, sorting metadata date columns in the Outliner is not working at the moment. I have added this to our bug tracking notes too.

I’m assuming LH1877 is about sorting in general and not just sorting date metadata. If so, I would like to add that the sort doesn’t “stick” - meaning if you sort on status for instance, then switch to the corkboard view, and then back to the outliner, the sort is no longer applied. If this is expected behavior I’ll go back to my corner and be quiet.

Thanks Jestar, this issue is included in the ticket.

Hi
I really need this sorting to work by metadata notes to be able of doing what I need. I have the old Win version and I look forward the new one, but not without that tool.
Will it work? And of course not only in the outliner but even in the binder and/or the final version.
Thank you.
Best regards
Cyril Sauvenay

It looks like this bug is still outstanding. It would be great to get it fixed as it is preventing use of custom date fields for outliner column sorting.

This might not be the place to ask, but is/will it possible to permanently sort items so that their position in the binder is rearranged?

I have a few folders of stuff that the names of several of the documents get changed and then I have to move them all manually to keep them alphabetically. Sometimes I wind up changing the names of a good number of documents at once.

I’d like to 2nd that. I’d still like to sort by a metadata date. I would be useful.

Also, I consider it a bug that if you select a folder with sub-items and put them in date format, then no sorting works. You have to remember the kludge to select each individual item, then it sorts if not date. If you see an item with columns in outline, it should sort and by all columns.

Apparently the Mac v3 does sort by any column.

This has been greatly improved(including metadata columns sorting) and will be available in the next update.

Wonderful news!

Great news and thanks!