Custom Sort Order - Sort by High, Medium, Low

Showcase Tips and Hacks
1

This should be inbuilt into the product at some point but for now here is a hack to get your table to sort in the way you want it ( High, Medium, Low)

Basically you create another table with the priority list and ranking.
Make your priority (in task table) a lookup to it.
Add a column that projects the ordering and then sort by that column. You can hide the column to keep it looking clean

38%20PM
Screen Recording 2018-02-16 at 02.38 PM.gif593Ă—579 1.92 MB

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2

@mallika Another hack I’ve seen in Excel (not as clean) is just putting a number in front of the priority level so you can do a quick sort on the column:

18%20AM

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3

Yes, that way a good one too. Just not clean and easy to manipulate but it works.

4

Currently trying to switch over from clickup and airtable. Wish this had been easier to do and find - spent so much time looking for the answer. Still struggling to make it work.

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I am almost sure I’ve already seen this feature in coda.
do you know if it’s now possible to do it natively ? :slight_smile:

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2023, this is still the only viable workaround for this functionality :unamused: thank you for your contribution @mallika, you made Coda a little better for me

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7

Any improvements on this? I need to sort a table based on the a select column with this options, in order: Huge, Big, Middle, Little, Tiny

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Hi @Baran_Gulmez,

it is still not possible to order text values as described in your example.
For correct sorting, you would need to add a number.

Jannis

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9

Can I find a workaround like adding another “related” column. In the related column I will map the words: Huge->1, Big->2, Middle->3, Little->4, Tiny->5. Then I will simply sort the table with the related column. Then I will also hide the related column in the view. How can I can map the words like that in another column?

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I just implemented the idea in my previous reply with a formula column:

Switch(thisRow.Column1,“Huge”, 1, “Big”, 2, “Middle”, 3, “Little”, 4, “Tiny”, 5, “-”)

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Hi @Baran_Gulmez,

I would still recommend the method Mallika showed back then:

I just created a quick demo. Please take a look at it:

Best regards
Jannis

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Why should I prefer that solution? Is it computationally less expensive?

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Hi @Baran_Gulmez,

I do not think so.
It’s just a different style, I guess. But you can also do it your way.

I just like to define my values ​​in tables and not in formulas, and I really like to have a clean structure. Plus, that’s how it was taught to me by other experts when I first started using Coda and learning how to do things.
And I would also recommend it to other beginners based on the points mentioned.

Jannis

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