Want to sort tables in Windows

Scrivener Scrivener for Windows
1

I see the Mac version has a table sort option but it is missing in the Windows version. When will this be available for Windows?

Thanks

2

Hi Jackster. Welcome to Scrivener.

I don’t know, and will surely be corrected if wrong, but my guess is that sorting tables is at least as complicated an operation as sorting and editing lists, and the latter is a known problem, not easily fixed, and that using and editing around them is officially likened to handling “unstable dynamite”. This is apparently true of both the Mac and Qt/Windows versions.

There is a Sort option, on the Edit menu, that can be applied to tables, but the main thing it does is break them and strew their contents.

I am happy using Scrivener for what it does, but make it a practice to avoid doing in it anything that requires editing special formatting and layouts, including even simple lists and tables (though the latter I’ve barely touched.) More productive, less heartache that way.

1 Like
3

Thank you for the insight into the software. I’ll avoid the tables then. Hope the developers get this fixed.

Cheers

4

I find it easiest to use a spreadsheet to create tables for my Scrivener Projects. Store the spreadsheet files in the Research folder. Make the table using proper table tools as you like (fancy or simple), then copy and paste an PNG image (or other format if you prefer) of the table into Scrivener.

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5

I don’t know where you are seeing that. The Mac version cannot sort rows in a table either. It fully disables the Edit ▸ Sort ▸ submenu when I select text within a table.

From what I can see, the only thing we need to do here on Windows is likewise, as sorting table rows is not a safe operation.

6

I found the information from this post about sorting tables. https://www.scrivenervirgin.com/2019/11/tables-in-scrivener/#:~:text=Sorting%20data%20within%20tables%20in,cannot%20sort%20on%20one%20column

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Sorry I meant to answer the previous person. AmberV

8

Thank for the link, I wasn’t even aware of that given how it is only present in one menu that is supposed to be a duplicate of another (which is the only one I’ve ever used), and for whatever reason not located with the general sort command. Weird.