FileMaker Pro 4.1 Mac User's Guide

4-30 FileMaker Pro User’s Guide
Sorting records
FileMaker Pro stores records in the order they were added to the file.
However, you often want to work with records in sorted order. Sorting
temporarily rearranges all or a group of records (the found set) based on
the entries in a field or set of fields, so you can browse, update, or print
the records in a different sequence.
You sort records by selecting fields whose contents you want to sort by.
The first sort field arranges the records based on the field’s contents. The
second sort field arranges records when two or more records have the
same value in the first sort field, and so on. You can sort records in
ascending order, descending order, or in a custom order based on a value
list.
FileMaker Pro keeps the records in the sorted order until you perform a
find or sort the records again.
1. To sort some but not all of the records, find the records to sort.
See “Finding information” on page 4-19.
2. Choose Sort from the Mode menu.
3. In the Sort Records dialog box, choose fields for sorting, in the order
you want them sorted.
To Do this
Choose a sort field and sort it
according to the selected order
Assign different sort orders to
fields as you add them to the
Sort Order list
Change the sort order for fields
in the Sort Order list
Sort according to the order of
values in a value list (for
example, in the order months
are arranged)
Change the order of fields in
the Sort Order list
In the fields list, double-click a field.
For each sort field, in the fields list, select a field, select
a sort order, and then click Move.
Ascending order is first to last character in the alphabet
for text, lowest to highest for numbers, and earliest to
latest for dates and times. Descending order is last to
first character in the alphabet for text, highest to lowest
for numbers, and latest to earliest for dates and times.
For Sort Order, select a field, and then select a sort order.
In the fields list, select a field, select Custom order based
on value list, and then choose or define a value list. (See
“Defining value lists” on page 3-75 and “Entering data
from a value list” on page 4-9.)
For Sort Order, use the double-arrow (to the left of the
field name) to drag the field to a new position.