Thread: View->Sort woes
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Quote:
Originally Posted by Brenno View Post
I can set the Grouping to Ungrouped and Sort by Flagged but it doesn't change anything.
When I do it, all flagged projects go to the top of the listing. It doesn't change the order of actions, however.
Quote:
The Flag Filter is set to Any Flag State because I want to view all my tasks but have the flagged ones at the top.
Two important principles here:
  • In Project mode, the sorting and grouping functions in the view bar act on projects; in Context mode, they act on actions
  • The view bar and View menu change the view, but do not change the data ; the Edit menu can change the view only by changing the data

Quote:
Not sure what you mean by dragging the whole group to a spot in the sidebar. I do not want to move anything, just get an overview of my projects and tasks in the library *and* have the flagged ones at the top.
That last sentence is ambiguous, and the answers are very different depending on what you mean by "flagged ones at the top."

You mentioned using the Edit->Sort facility, which does move your data around. If you have two windows open, showing the same data, using the Edit->Sort facility in one window will change the contents of both windows, because it changes the underlying data. Using the View bar or View menu will only change the contents of the window in which it is used.

The Edit->Sort facility can be used to reorder projects by selecting them in the sidebar and invoking Edit->Sort, but it does not have a Sort by Flagged option, as you mentioned. It can also be used to reorder actions in a project, but again, you can't use it to sort on the flagged state. It would only make sense to sort on the flagged state in a project where there was no significance to the ordering. A project called "Paint the office" where the tasks were "Buy paint", "Put down drop cloth", "Paint walls" (flagged) would not make sense if you sorted the "Paint walls" task to the top of the list.

If you are trying to look at a list of all of your actions, with all of the flagged actions before all of the unflagged actions, you need to be in Context mode, not Project mode. Group by Ungrouped, Sort by Flagged.

If you are instead trying to look at all of your projects, with the flagged projects before all of the unflagged projects, Project mode is what you want. Group by Ungrouped, Sort by Flagged.

If you want to see all of your projects and want any flagged actions in those projects shown first, you can go to Context mode, Group by Project, Sort by Flagged and you will get the closest approximation without actually changing your data.

If you want the full hierarchy of nested actions displayed, then you need to be in Project mode, and you'll have to rearrange the actions so that the flagged ones are first in their projects.