Sorting tables in products

When you are viewing a table of information in products, features might be available that allow you to customize the table view to sort the information in ascending or descending order, based on one column value or based on combinations of column values. This section describes how to identify and use sorting options, when they are available in a table.

About this task

The steps described here apply only to tables where sorting by column heading is supported. To identify a table where this feature is supported, move your mouse pointer onto a column heading. If a sort control is displayed, as shown in the following example, the table supports sorting by column heading:


Column heading that shows the sort control
The control to the right of the column heading indicates the sort order for this column, which described in the table in the following procedure.

Procedure

  1. To determine the sort order of a table using a single column, click one of the following controls in the column heading:
    Sort iconDescription
    Column sort ascending icon Sorts the table by using the selected column in ascending order.
    Column sort descending icon Sorts the table by using the selected column in descending order.
    Cancel column sorting icon Cancels the sorting of the table by using this column.
  2. Optionally, move the mouse over one or more additional columns, and click the ascending or descending icon to sort by additional column values ("2" indicating secondary sort, "3" indicating a tertiary sort, and so on). Each level of sorting you add is applied to the data in the table in the order in which you assign it.
    For example, if you selected Date as the primary sort column and Time as the secondary sort column, all rows in the table would be sorted by date, and within identical date values, each row would be sorted by time.
  3. To clear a column from affecting the table sort order, click the sort icon on the column until the "x" is displayed, then click the "x".