Set text field sorting

Learn how to set how your text fields are sorted.

Overview

You can set preferences for sorting with:

  • Apostrophes

  • Mc or Mac

  • A, An or The

  • Hyphens

  • Roman numerals

For example, you can exclude apostrophes or the initial A, An, or The from sorting by replacing them with nothing. Names such as O'Rourke would be sorted as OROURKE, and the title "A Black Cat" will be sorted as BLACKCAT.

Replacements are not case sensitive.

Steps

  1. Go to the Tools menu > System Maintenance > Text Sorting.

  2. In File, select the name of the file. For example, Person.

  3. In Field, select the name of the field. If the field has text sorting, details will appear on screen.

  4. In Replace mode, choose the type of replacement.

  5. In Search String, enter the string of characters the system should search for, followed by ].

  6. In Replace String, enter the word or set of characters the system should use instead. If you want to ignore that term when sorting, leave this field blank.

  7. Optional: If you don't want to convert roman numerals below a certain value, enter the value in the Roman Numeral Sorting field below the table.

  8. Click Save.