Dennis said >>I think that all computer systems sort is this manner, it is certainly the way sorting works for most databases. One way is to use leading zeros on your file names. For example, F-0001 . . . .<< Well computers will sort the way they are told to. Microsoft code is telling Windows Explorer to sort in this way. I can take advantage of an option in spreadsheet programs to sort in a normal way so I do not have to *label* a number "1" as "0001". Some genealogical tree-type software, not confined to Microsoft code, will sort Family numbers and Individual numbers as real-world normal without requiring the tags or place-holders. It is very disappointing not to be able to make WinExplorer do the same. But thank you for the suggestions. Cheers, Judy --------------------------------- Be a better friend, newshound, and know-it-all with Yahoo! Mobile. Try it now.

Judy wrote: > Dennis said >>I think that all computer systems sort is this manner, it is certainly the way sorting works for most databases. One way is to use leading zeros on your file names. For example, F-0001 . . . .<< > > Well computers will sort the way they are told to. Microsoft code is telling Windows Explorer to sort in this way. > > I can take advantage of an option in spreadsheet programs to sort in a normal way so I do not have to *label* a number "1" as "0001". Some genealogical tree-type software, not confined to Microsoft code, will sort Family numbers and Individual numbers as real-world normal without requiring the tags or place-holders. > > It is very disappointing not to be able to make WinExplorer do the same. > > But thank you for the suggestions. > > Cheers, > Judy > > <snip> > Judy; Let me see... I'm going to try and explain this sorting without making everyone mad. (And please remember, this is my understanding, and I might need to be educated <g>). I don't believe this issue is relative to Microsoft code. Other genealogy programs have the same issue, they just 'display' things so that everything appears correct to our human eyes. I believe the PC, i.e., Windows (all versions) use ASCII characters in filenames and thus sort using those characters. Your spreadsheet program uses numbers in the cells, not ASCII characters. I know, they both look the same, but in the world of computers they are not. For example, the number 1 for computers is 1, but the ASCII representation of '1' has a numeric value of 31. So if I was sorting numbers 1 - 15 they would look like this: 1 2 3 4 5 6 7 8 9 10 11 12 13 14 15 When I sort the same ASCII characters, they use these numbers (remember ASCII '1' is numeric 31) and you would expect to see: ASCII '1' = numeric 31 ASCII '2' = numeric 32 ASCII '3' = numeric 33 ASCII '4' = numeric 34 ASCII '5' = numeric 35 ASCII '6' = numeric 36 ASCII '7' = numeric 37 ASCII '8' = numeric 38 ASCII '9' = numeric 39 ASCII '10' = numeric 31 & 30 (yes, there are two digits) ASCII '11' = numeric 31 & 31 ASCII '12' = numeric 31 & 32 ASCII '13' = numeric 31 & 33 ASCII '14' = numeric 31 & 34 ASCII '15' = numeric 31 & 35 ... so if I sort the numbers, not the ASCII representations, I really get: 31 31 30 31 31 31 32 31 33 31 34 31 35 32 33 34 35 36 37 38 39 ... or ASCII '1' ASCII '10' ASCII '11' ASCII '12' ASCII '13' ASCII '14' ASCII '15' ASCII '2' ASCII '3' ASCII '4' ASCII '5' ASCII '6' ASCII '7' ASCII '8' ASCII '9' ... does this help? I'm not a mathematician, but I have made a good living getting computers to do what I tell them (which by the way may not be what I want <g>). Note: I purposely left out the discussion about hex and binary (geek words). If someone else can explain this better, have at it. I hope that now we have a better understanding as to why Windows Explorer as well as other genealogy programs sort one way (ASCII representation) and a spreadsheet program (numbers) sorts another. -- Enjoy the Search! Thayne