So I’ve got a project where I’ve set up custom meta-data which are lists of numbers. I tried to sort by of those columns and the result was not what I expected.
Rather than listing them numerically 1-100, etc, it was 1, 10, 100-109, 11, 110-119, 12, 120, etc.
Is that the expected behaviour, or did I maybe miss a setting somewhere? If it matters, I started this project in WinScriv and this is the first time I’ve opened it in MacScriv.
Yes, that’s expected from some types of sort engines. ‘11’ is greater than ‘100’ because in the second column, 1 is greater than 0. It’s the same logic that causes ‘aa’ to fall before ‘ab’, everything is evaluated as a string of characters, not as meaningful objects (like the number eleven). Zero-padding is how you get around that, with ‘011’, ‘004’, etc.
Thanks, thought so but figured it wouldn’t hurt to ask just in case.
Next question: in WinScriv when entering data into the outliner hitting Tab moves you down to the next row in that column. Whereas in MacScriv, Tab moves you over to the next column. How do I go down instead? Can’t seem to find the right key for that.
Good question, I don’t think there is a way of moving down a cell like that, tab crawls right and down, and shift-tab left and up from one editable cell to the next. I guess it makes more sense if you are filling out the details for a new item you just made, this way, and the way the Windows version does it makes more sense for fixing a few hundred numbers. 
Which is what I’m doing in this case, entering in yearly results, and I’ve got 574 items to go into this column.
Guess it’s a good thing I bought Parallels, I can work in WinScriv a bit longer for that. Or maybe I can rig something up in TextExpander, looks like Esc, Down Arrow, Tab, Tab gets me there. (or just Tab Tab if I turn off all the other columns).
Might I suggest a toggle in the navigation preferences for this behaviour - so you can choose whether Tab selects the next column or the next Row.
Hmm, what about entering the number in the Inspector? You can use the Opt-Cmd-DownArrow shortcut to select the next item, followed by a second DownArrow tap (without modifiers) to activate the bottom custom meta-data field (move it temporarily if necessary). A macro via TextExpander may be better though.
I’ll add a note about multi-dimensional movement in the Outliner. Not sure if a preference is the best answer for this, since that strikes me as more the kind of decision you’d want to make on the fly (for most things).