Sorting by columns in a table doesn't follow "rules" by row
Asked by Mike Woodside:

An existing table has multiple columns and rows. There are no merged cells. When sort by a column is clicked the sort is inaccurate. For example dates are not chronological for the entire column.

This worked prior to converting to the new editor.


Answers:
author: Paige
body: I am continuously getting an error on all tables in confluence when I attempt to sort. I have never used the merge function. This is incredibly frustrating.


author: Shannon S
body: Hello Mike,

Welcome to Atlassian Community. It's nice to have you join us.

I'm aware of a bug that has been reported about the columns not sorting by date properly:

* [CONFCLOUD-70026](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-70026) *Not able to sort table column by dates*

Do you happen to be using the **Date Macro** in these cells, or has a date been entered manually?

What other examples of columns not sorting have you encountered?

Thank you,

Shannon

comments: author: Mike Woodside
body: Shannon,

I don't use any macros that I know of. I didn't create the page initially so there could be some I don't know about. Also, the sort worked before I allowed the new editor to convert the page.

The columns that sort wrong are the date columns -- entered manually in mm/dd/yy format and a column that has numbers or text in the cells. Both columns start out sorting but as you move down the table the sort starts over. I thought maybe there was an issue with sections but I can't figure out how to see sections in the editor. None of the tools are displayed for that action.


author: Shannon S
body: Hi Mike,

Thank you for verifying that. In this case, it does sound like the bug you're running into. Here's the description from the ticket:
> Sorting a table column with dates won't work properly. The sort won't happen as expected.

I created a table recently in my Confluence site with a date column, and in that case I used the date macro to display the dates. You can access the date macro by typing **//** . When I sort these, from best I can tell, they are sorted chronologically. Otherwise, the bug ticket says using the format **yyyy.MM.dd** appears to work.

Was there any other sorting you have attempted to do outside of dates that is also not working?

Shannon


author: Mike Woodside
body: Shannon,

The column that has either a number or text in each cell no longer sorts properly. Is there a way to go back to the old editor?

I will change the date column to the other format.

Please explain why the editor does not allow me to see the sections option.

Thanks


author: Mike Woodside
body: Shannon,

A side note, when I cleared the cells (that don't sort right) and re-entered the info for the column with text and numbers the sort works. Perhaps the editor conversion left artifacts in the cell?


author: Shannon S
body: Hi Mike,

It's still possible to create pages using the old editor, but you'll need to specifically choose the "Legacy editor template" for that. If you don't have a template by that name, you'll need to have your Cloud site administrator raise a ticket with [the Cloud Support team](https://support.atlassian.com/contact) so we can get that activated on your site.

Regarding sections, the new editor does not have that ability at the moment, but instead has layouts. For example:

* [Add formatting to your page](https://support.atlassian.com/confluence-cloud/docs/add-formatting-to-your-page/#Addformattingtoyourpage-layouts)

There are two requests for additional formatting options, including a sections macro. You can vote on these if it's something you'd like to be able to see in the new editor:

* [CONFCLOUD-67648](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-67648) *Additional options for page layouts*
* *[CONFCLOUD-68508](https://jira.atlassian.com/browse/CONFCLOUD-68508)* *Section Macro in the New Editor*

Let me know if you have any questions!

Shannon


Tags: cloud