Sorting problem

[Trish T]

I've read through all the posts on sorting problems and tried a few things,
but still can't fix my problem. I'm a very rudimentary user of Access 2000
and have a simple database listing all of our firm's representative project
sheets. There is a main table and then a few small tables with the lists of
categories, engineering disciplines, etc. that the project can fit in to.
I'm trying to create a report that lists all the projects sorted by the major
discipline each one falls into (ex. Bridges, Water Supply, Site-Civil, etc.),
but the discipline categories won't sort alphabetically, only by the
autonumber. Because I added two records to the discipline table some time
after creating it, those two categories keep appearing at the end of the
report (since their autonumbers in the ID field are the last two numbers on
the table.) Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.

 

[fredg]

I've read through all the posts on sorting problems and tried a few things,
but still can't fix my problem. I'm a very rudimentary user of Access 2000
and have a simple database listing all of our firm's representative project
sheets. There is a main table and then a few small tables with the lists of
categories, engineering disciplines, etc. that the project can fit in to.
I'm trying to create a report that lists all the projects sorted by the major
discipline each one falls into (ex. Bridges, Water Supply, Site-Civil, etc.),
but the discipline categories won't sort alphabetically, only by the
autonumber. Because I added two records to the discipline table some time
after creating it, those two categories keep appearing at the end of the
report (since their autonumbers in the ID field are the last two numbers on
the table.) Any suggestions?
Thanks for your help.

Add another field to the table (number datatype), with numbers
representing the order in which you wish to sort the data. Include
this field in the query.
In your report (using the report's Sorting and Grouping dialog), sort
the data on this number field.
This way, even if in the future you add new project types or wish to
sort them differently, all you need do is re-arrange the numbers.