In the Chart and Pivot sections, data is sorted alphabetically. You can override this default and sort dimensional data with reference to other data, rather than alphabetically.
For example, if a chart lists each type of item your company sells and the total amount sold of each, initially the item types are alphabetically ordered. But this data becomes more meaningful when you instead sort the item types with reference to the total sales revenue produced by each. This approach allows you to rank each product type from highest to lowest total sales.
When you want to apply a sort criteria there are three components used to define the sort condition:
Sort Items—Item sorted in ascending or descending order. In the Chart section, sort items refers to the chart axes. In the Pivot section, sort items refers to the pivot dimensions.
Referential Items—Numeric data item included in the Chart or Pivot section, and also the keyword “labels.” These selections provide two ways to sort the selected Chart or Pivot item.
Sorting by labels—Dimensional data items are sorted alphabetically by name when the chart section is created: this is equivalent to sorting by “labels.” When selected, the “labels” keyword indicates that the item chosen from the submenu are sorted by label or name rather than by reference to corresponding numeric data values in the report.
Sorting by values—Sorting by a numeric data item orders each value of the target item specified by its corresponding numeric value in the second list. Sorting by values produces an entirely different sort order. For example, your chart may list each state in which your company has made sales revenue and the total cost-of-sales for each. The data items are initially listed in alphabetical order, that is, sorted by “labels.” When you sort instead by cost-of-sales, the states are ranked in order by each corresponding cost-of-sales figure.
Functions—Aggregate statistical functions available when you sort by values. The functions generally duplicate the data functions available in the chart section.
When you sort by values, dimensional data is sorted by the corresponding numeric values of the referenced item. (For example, sorting states by the sum total of the cost of good sold in each state).
To specify a sort: