It would be nice if there was an option to sort places in reverse display order as well as in normal display order. By this I don't mean Z to A and A to Z, but where the list sorts by country first, then state/county, etc. This would make working with places a bit more useful as you can then find individuals who are in the same county but not necessarily the same town, such individuals are quite likely to have familial connections.
As an aside, it would also be useful if the method of changing the sort did NOT require pressing ALT when clicking on the column header. ALL Windows programs that I have come across that allow sorting of columns implement it by allowing a single click to alternate (or cycle through) the order, no keypress necessary. FH seems in my experience to be the ONLY one implementing this 'special' method of changing the sort order.
ID:2508
* Sort places in reverse display order
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Jane
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Sort places in reverse display order
I can see what you mean, for now you can click on the column heading for place2 then place 3 to sort in reverse order.
Jane
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
My Family History : My Photography "Knowledge is knowing that a tomato is a fruit. Wisdom is not putting it in a fruit salad."
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NickWalker
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Sort places in reverse display order
I agree with Jon (unusually! [smile]) regarding sorting using Alt being a bit 'non standard' and I'd also like to see that being changed to the method John described in his second paragraph.
Sort places in reverse display order
Jane, sorry you can't click on column headings when viewing records to do a reverse display sort. You only have a single place column per event/attribute and that can only be displayed in short, medium, tidy or full.
I agree that this is possible in the Work with Places dialog since the column headings exist and there is a checkbox in the dialog to reverse the display of place names and THEN you can click on the place columns to get the order right *.
But if I click on Place2 then Place3 in normal display order I do not get the places sorted properly as I would expect them to do if FH was doing a stateful sort. Nor does doing Place2, then Place3 in reverse display order work either. See attached image for result of clicking on the columns 2 and 3 in normal order. As you can see I get Eastleigh, Southampton, Hampshire then Gosport, Portsmouth then Itchen, Southampton rather than Gosport, Portsmouth then Eastleigh then Itchen.
However, if I check Reverse Display Order then click 5th Last, 4th Last, etc in that order I get pretty much what I want in a usable format. There is a slight issue with the odd place name like Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK in that it comes BETWEEN South Stoneham and St Mary's Parish as shown below when it should come at the start of all Southampton places.
UK, England, Hampshire, Southampton, South Stoneham
UK, England, Hampshire, Southampton
UK, England, Hampshire, Southampton, St Mary's Parish
* This is another point in that clicking on the reverse display checkbox should display the places in the final sorted order shown after having clicked on the columns without requiring the clicks on the column headings, just like they are sorted initially when you see the places in normal display order.
I agree that this is possible in the Work with Places dialog since the column headings exist and there is a checkbox in the dialog to reverse the display of place names and THEN you can click on the place columns to get the order right *.
But if I click on Place2 then Place3 in normal display order I do not get the places sorted properly as I would expect them to do if FH was doing a stateful sort. Nor does doing Place2, then Place3 in reverse display order work either. See attached image for result of clicking on the columns 2 and 3 in normal order. As you can see I get Eastleigh, Southampton, Hampshire then Gosport, Portsmouth then Itchen, Southampton rather than Gosport, Portsmouth then Eastleigh then Itchen.
However, if I check Reverse Display Order then click 5th Last, 4th Last, etc in that order I get pretty much what I want in a usable format. There is a slight issue with the odd place name like Southampton, Hampshire, England, UK in that it comes BETWEEN South Stoneham and St Mary's Parish as shown below when it should come at the start of all Southampton places.
UK, England, Hampshire, Southampton, South Stoneham
UK, England, Hampshire, Southampton
UK, England, Hampshire, Southampton, St Mary's Parish
* This is another point in that clicking on the reverse display checkbox should display the places in the final sorted order shown after having clicked on the columns without requiring the clicks on the column headings, just like they are sorted initially when you see the places in normal display order.