Secondary sort?

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BlueThing
Posts: 4
Joined: 31 Jul 2021 05:13

Secondary sort?

Post by BlueThing »

I'd been using an ancient version of XYplorer for at least a decade and recently went for the shiny lifetime license, so I am finally up to date and it's lovely.
However, sorting does not seem to work the way I am familiar with anymore and I can't seem to find any option for this.

How it used to be is that I would click a column to sort and then on a different one - and the secondary sort would be whatever I'd clicked previously. (Most often that's the Name column, but not always.)
[Confusingly, I found some old post that suggests secondary sort was always Name by default, so I have no idea how I am so convinced that I was able to do this with other columns as well.]

Now, whenever I sort by any column other than Name, the file names are listed in some arbitrary order that I cannot quite figure out (it is certainly not alphabetical), even if the primary sort is identical (e.g. the same path location).

I did figure out that I can SHIFT-click on the column header to force a secondary sort, and that I can even "Always Sort Search Results That Way", but this only really applies to the initial sort. So I have to keep setting the secondary sort after the primary every single time I change the primary or even just reverse order on it.
That's a lot of clicking for something that used to be default, so I can't imagine that is intended behaviour.

I am sure I must be missing something, some setting maybe? Is my secondary sort set to some weird auto-sort default that I am just not aware of? Possibly because I upgraded from that ancient version?

Any help is appreciated; thank you!

highend
Posts: 13274
Joined: 06 Feb 2011 00:33

Re: Secondary sort?

Post by highend »

Set up your defaults as necessary gain: view mode, primary and secondary sort order and then

View - Folder View Settings - Define this folder view as default

Try it again (switching folders)...

If it works, save your settings
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admin
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Re: Secondary sort?

Post by admin »

BlueThing wrote: 31 Jul 2021 05:42I am sure I must be missing something, some setting maybe? Is my secondary sort set to some weird auto-sort default that I am just not aware of? Possibly because I upgraded from that ancient version?
It's easy to find out: Simply turn off Folder View Settings: View | Folder View Settings | Enable Folder View Settings

BlueThing
Posts: 4
Joined: 31 Jul 2021 05:13

Re: Secondary sort?

Post by BlueThing »

highend wrote: 31 Jul 2021 07:12 Set up your defaults as necessary gain: view mode, primary and secondary sort order and then

View - Folder View Settings - Define this folder view as default

Try it again (switching folders)...

If it works, save your settings
This worked for folders, which is great. Thank you very much!
admin wrote: 31 Jul 2021 09:51
BlueThing wrote: 31 Jul 2021 05:42I am sure I must be missing something, some setting maybe? Is my secondary sort set to some weird auto-sort default that I am just not aware of? Possibly because I upgraded from that ancient version?
It's easy to find out: Simply turn off Folder View Settings: View | Folder View Settings | Enable Folder View Settings
Thank you; I did not notice any change, so I assume my issue is entirely unrelated (if there is an issue).


The thing is, I still can't get this to work for search results. There what I described initially is still happening (i.e. the name column not sorting alphabetically as secondary until I SHIFT-click again).

To make it clear (because my brain feels muddled already so I am not sure I'm communicating well):
[*]I do a search and at first it remembers my setting of primary: path, secondary: name.
[*]Then I click on the name column to primary-sort that way.
[*]I click on path again - and now the names of files within the same folder are sorted arbitrarily.
[*]Now I would have to SHIFT-click on the name header again to bring order into the chaos.

Is this expected behaviour?

I am just confused. I'll look into this more because clearly this must be my inability to comprehend things. What am I doing wrong?

highend
Posts: 13274
Joined: 06 Feb 2011 00:33

Re: Secondary sort?

Post by highend »

Show your
General - Sort and Rename pane
from Menu - Tools - Configuration...
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BlueThing
Posts: 4
Joined: 31 Jul 2021 05:13

Re: Secondary sort?

Post by BlueThing »

highend wrote: 31 Jul 2021 14:51 Show your
General - Sort and Rename pane
from Menu - Tools - Configuration...
Image

highend
Posts: 13274
Joined: 06 Feb 2011 00:33

Re: Secondary sort?

Post by highend »

Configuration | General | Sort and Rename | Sort | [x] Mixed sort on path columns
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BlueThing
Posts: 4
Joined: 31 Jul 2021 05:13

Re: Secondary sort?

Post by BlueThing »

highend wrote: 31 Jul 2021 20:17 Configuration | General | Sort and Rename | Sort | [x] Mixed sort on path columns
Huh. That just mixes the folders with the files, though. I mean, they appear to stay in alphabetical order that way, but mixing them is most definitely not what I want or need to do.

Is this how it is supposed to work?
Image

Up til the upgrade the sort order would remember my previously sorted column (ascending or descending). Just like in this recording the path sort stays alphabetical when I switch to name sort. I'd simply expect the same to apply to the name column when I switch back to path sort.
Is this weird?

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