Sort Data in Pigment

When you work with Metric, List, and Table data in Pigment, you can sort and organize your data across multiple levels.

When you import data into a Transaction List or add items to a Dimension List, the order is defined by the input order. You can change this order manually in Manage items, but sometimes it’s quicker to sort your data. Sorting makes it easier to analyze, search, and retrieve information, and it streamlines your dataset management. Depending on what type of data you’re sorting in Pigment, you can sort information as follows:

• Ascending or descending order

• Higher to lower or lower to higher numerical value

• Alphabetical or reverse alphabetical order

You sort your data by either:

• Selecting and right-selecting a row or column header

• Using the Sort View panel

We describe how to do both types of sorts for List, Metric, and Table data in more detail below.

Each time you perform a sort, this action adds a new sort rule. To edit or view the sequence of your sort rules, select the Sort icon to open the Sorting View panel. The Sort icon is located next to the Filter icon on your Pigment toolbar:

Sort your Transaction and Dimension List data

To quickly sort your List data, right-select the row header in your List to sort the Metric values in ascending or descending order.

You can also do a multi-level sort on your Transaction and Dimension List data. This is done by selecting additional properties available in your List.

In this example we use a Dimension List:

1. Open your Dimension List and select the Sort icon.

2. In the Sorting View pane, select + Add a sort.

3. Select a Dimension List Property from the menu.

4. Select how you want to sort your data.  

5. Repeat steps 2 and 3 for each sort level that you need.

6. (Optional) Drag and drop each sort to arrange the sort sequence.

7. (Optional) Select the Delete icon to delete a sort.

Sort your Metric or Table data

You sort Table and Metric data in Pigment in a similar way. We use Metric data in this example.

To quickly sort your Metric data, right-select the column or row header in your Metric. You can do the following:

• Sort the Metric values of the selected row or column in ascending or descending order.
  In the example below, the numerical values listed in the Jul 24 column are sorted in descending order. This reorders the Employees assigned to the Metric’s rows.
  

• Sort the Dimension Items of the selected header, according to the default Property or one of the other Properties.
  In the example below, we sort the Month column according to the Quarter Property in reverse order.
  The result is that months in the third quarter (July) appear before months in the second quarter (May and June).  
  

⚠️ Important

When a Table's View contains Metrics that share different sets of Dimensions, sorting by Metric Value isn’t available from the Sorting panel. Instead, you can only access this Sort option by right-selecting the Metric's header.

To sort Metric data using the Sorting View panel, do the following:

1. Open your Metric and select the Sort icon.

2. In the Sorting View pane, select + Add a sort.

3. Select a Dimension from the dropdown that appears listing all the Metric’s Dimensions.

4. More options appear, with by Metric value selected by default.

5. If you want to sort by Property, select the down arrow by Metric value and select Property, then define which Property in the next field.

6. If you want to sort by Metric Value, choose an Item from the Metric’s opposite Dimension or choose Total.

7. Select the sort order. Optionally, add further criteria using + Add a sort, then Apply.

8. In the example below, the Employees are sorted by salary for June 24, highest first and then where salaries are the same, by employee name.
   

9. (Optional) Drag and drop each sort to arrange the sort sequence.

10. (Optional) Select the Delete icon to delete a sort.

Sort on subtotals

You can sort by subtotals set up on groupings mapped through a mapping Metric or Property. In the below example, the data is sorted alphabetically by team name, then by total monthly salary based on the Design team, lowest to highest.