Trick for not sorting on "The"

Stephanie DeChambeau · June 2017

Hello all! I used RE in the late 90s/early 2000s and have been away from it since 2003. I just started a job where RE is used, but the data entry has not been done according to any standards. So I'm finding lots of duplicate records. Since I'm the grant writer, I'm focused on corps/fdns/govt. Of course, lots of fdns start their name with "The" - e.g., The John Smith Foundation. I know there's a trick for entering the name so that "The" isn't a factor in the search process, but I can't remember what it is. I'm not even sure how to ask the question to search the forum or the user guide! Can someone help me out?

Jenny Marquardt · June 2017

put a / where the space would be according to how you want it to be alphabetized.

Stephanie DeChambeau · June 2017

Jenny Physioc:

put a / where the space would be according to how you want it to be alphabetized.

Thanks, Jenny! Does that also work if I want to alphabetize based on something other than the first word? For example, I'd like to sort The John Smith Foundation first by "Smith," then "John." And can I do both in the same record? How would I enter that: "The/John/Smith Foundation" or "The/Smith/John Foundation"?

Jenny Marquardt · June 2017

Stephanie DeChambeau:

Jenny Physioc:

put a / where the space would be according to how you want it to be alphabetized.

Thanks, Jenny! Does that also work if I want to alphabetize based on something other than the first word? For example, I'd like to sort The John Smith Foundation first by "Smith," then "John." And can I do both in the same record? How would I enter that: "The/John/Smith Foundation" or "The/Smith/John Foundation"?

You can place the / anywhere you want it to be while in an organization record.

Jenny Marquardt · June 2017

Jenny Physioc:

Stephanie DeChambeau:

Jenny Physioc:

put a / where the space would be according to how you want it to be alphabetized.

Thanks, Jenny! Does that also work if I want to alphabetize based on something other than the first word? For example, I'd like to sort The John Smith Foundation first by "Smith," then "John." And can I do both in the same record? How would I enter that: "The/John/Smith Foundation" or "The/Smith/John Foundation"?

You can place the / anywhere you want it to be while in an organization record.

In one place as far as I know

Jenny Marquardt · June 2017

Jenny Physioc:

Jenny Physioc:

Stephanie DeChambeau:

Jenny Physioc:

put a / where the space would be according to how you want it to be alphabetized.

Thanks, Jenny! Does that also work if I want to alphabetize based on something other than the first word? For example, I'd like to sort The John Smith Foundation first by "Smith," then "John." And can I do both in the same record? How would I enter that: "The/John/Smith Foundation" or "The/Smith/John Foundation"?

You can place the / anywhere you want it to be while in an organization record.

In one place as far as I know

Play around with it. Save the record then look how it appears. Sometimes I forget which way the slash should be so I just pick one and if it appears in the name after I have saved it then that's the wrong slash.

JoAnn Strommen · June 2017

It should be a "\\". For additional sorting I would just enter an a.k.a. alias.

Don't know that you could use more than one. If you did, how would RE really know where to list it?

Just dumb that can't easily pull up a kb solution about using it.

Stephanie DeChambeau · June 2017

Thanks, ladies!

Jenny Marquardt · June 2017

JoAnn Strommen:

It should be a "\\". For additional sorting I would just enter an a.k.a. alias.

Don't know that you could use more than one. If you did, how would RE really know where to list it?

Just dumb that can't easily pull up a kb solution about using it.

LOL...I always put it the wrong way.

Gina Gerhard · June 2017

Yes easy to confuse - and does anyone else call it a BACKSPLASH ???

JoAnn Strommen · June 2017

Well, not backsplash but it is called a backslash. The name just doesn't help me unless I'm really thinking to know if it's / or \\.

Per wikipedia it's also called: hack, whack, escape, reverse slash, slosh, downwhack, backslant, downhill, backwhack, bash, reverse slant, and reversed virgule.

Melissa S Graves · June 2017

I have never heard it called backsplash before but I now forever will think of that when I hear backslash! LOL

Daniel Noga 2 · June 2017

JoAnn Strommen:

Per wikipedia it's also called: hack, whack, escape, reverse slash, slosh, downwhack, backslant, downhill, backwhack, bash, reverse slant, and reversed virgule.

This provided some much needed comic relief. Who knew?

Marie Stark · June 2017

I will have to remember "reversed virgule"

Jill Collins · June 2017

Stephanie DeChambeau:

Hello all! I used RE in the late 90s/early 2000s and have been away from it since 2003. I just started a job where RE is used, but the data entry has not been done according to any standards. So I'm finding lots of duplicate records. Since I'm the grant writer, I'm focused on corps/fdns/govt. Of course, lots of fdns start their name with "The" - e.g., The John Smith Foundation. I know there's a trick for entering the name so that "The" isn't a factor in the search process, but I can't remember what it is. I'm not even sure how to ask the question to search the forum or the user guide! Can someone help me out?

You can also search with an asterisk in the search field, which will bring up anything with a preceding "the." It has saved my life!

Melissa S Graves · June 2017

That works for searching - not for sorting though.

Elizabeth Johnson · June 2017

And the "\\" doesn't currently help with sorting in a "query list" although it does works fine in query. There isn't exactly a request of this nature in the Idea Bank although I added something to this topic a while back.

Jen Claudy · June 2017

Use the backslash [\\] in place of the space before the word you want the record to alphabetize under. But only one backslash per name will work (as JoAnn mentioned, with more than one, RE won't know where to alphabetize...it will actually use the first one). When exporting from RE, those slashes will be replaced with spaces (so if you enter the backslash and a space, you'll end up with two spaces). If exporting to Excel and sorting there, those names will sort under "T" again.

The Robert C. Hernandez Foundation...will be under T

The\\Robert C. Hernandez Foundation...will be under R

The\\Robert C.\\Hernandez Foundation...will be under R

The Robert C.\\Hernandez Foundation...will be under H

I highly recommend adding Aliases for alternate spellings or abbreviations to help with searching. Then you can enter aliases of:

The Robert Hernandez Foundation

Robert Hernandez Foundation

Hernandez Foundation

RCH Foundation (should they abbreviate like this)

I also recommend that you omit punctuation and middle initials in aliases (unless necessary for some reason) and make that a policy. It will help with searching and limit the number of aliases needed.

You could use an Alias Type of "Alpha Sort" and enter "Robert C. Hernandez Foundation, The" then include this field in your exports. If you do a lot in Excel, this would allow you to replace the Name field with the Alias when needed and be able to sort in Excel the way you want to. (At my last org, I had a Constituent Attribute of "Alpha Sort Org" and would copy-and-paste the org name there, then edit if necessary, like in this case. I also had an Alpha Sort Salutation for Individual records. Exporting data to excel, I would include both of these plus the Name field. Combine the two Alpha Sort columns into one, and I'd have a sortable field plus the name field how it was needed.

Also, this may help in remembering which is the backslash (or backsplash!) and which is the forward slash...look at the position of the top of the mark, or where your pen would start when writing the mark. If the top is "forward" (to the right) it's a forward slash: /. If the top is in the "back" (to the left), it's a backslash: \\.

Trick for not sorting on "The"

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