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Access Table Sorting Not Saving

Anonymous
2017-05-08T21:53:52+00:00

I have text data in the first column of my table. I want this data to be in ascending order (and I can get it to sort using the "ascending" button in the Sort & Filter section), but anytime I make any significant changes to the table (ex deleting a row), the ascending order sorting that I did previously is removed and the order of records is reverted to a whack-y, non-ascending order format. Is there any way I can get this column to be permanently sorted to stay in ascending order?

Many thanks!

Microsoft 365 and Office | Access | For home | Windows

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  1. Anonymous
    2017-05-09T03:12:23+00:00

    Karl is right -- but IF the text field happens to be the primary key of the table, then Access will return the records in that order by default. This behavior is purely arbitrary on Access's part, because officially a table is an unordered "bag of records", but that's what Access does if there is no reason to return the records in any other order.

    If your table has some other primary key, then this fact won't help you. And if the field isn't suitable as a primary key -- for example, if it can't be counted on to be unique -- it won't help, either. But if your table currently has *no* primary key, it certainly should, and it may be that this text field would be suitable.

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  2. Anonymous
    2017-05-08T22:25:31+00:00

    Is there any way I can get this column to be permanently sorted to stay in ascending order?

    No!    Access stores records like a 'barrel of bricks.'   You should not be viewing data directly in the table.

    Use a query to sort to view in a form or use Sorting & Grouping in a report.

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