Arrange filter values in tableau

Question

I Have Filter Values (dimension) in Tableau - that I want to arrange in ascending order.

The values in the quick filter are currently ordered alphabetically:

03 to 05-Jun-2015

06 to 10-Jul-2015

08 to 12-Jun-2015

13 to 16-Jul-2015

15 to 19-Jun-2015

20 to 24-Jul-2015

22 to 26-Jul-2015

27 to 31-Jul-2015

29 to 03-Jul-2015

In the list above, values are ordered alphabetically, not chronologically. I want them to be in this order:

03 to 05-Jun-2015

08 to 12-Jun-2015

15 to 19-Jun-2015

06 to 10-Jul-2015

13 to 16-Jul-2015

20 to 24-Jul-2015

22 to 26-Jul-2015

27 to 31-Jul-2015

29 to 03-Jul-2015 

Is there a way to make the above filter values display in the desired order? 

Answer 1

• One of the approaches is to apply for a manual sort order from the sort panel (which you can bring up by right-clicking on the dimension you wish to sort, either on the data pane to set a default sort order, or on a shelf to set the sort order for one worksheet)

• Suppose if you don't want a manual sort order, you can apply a dynamic sort based on the values in the data from the same panel, or use the database default sort order (usually alphabetical order).

• In that last case, you probably want to use a standard easily sorted convention for your field values -- say ISO 9001 dates like YYYY-MM-DD, perhaps following by a duration length in days, say YYYY-MM-DD (n)

• Alternatively, if you could change the data type of the field from string to date, say called start_date, then you would get sorting by default and many options for filter controls.