(examples refer to the ‘All sets’ database and a Windows computer)
I am sure similar procedures apply in other spreadsheet programs.
‘Sort’ means ‘rearrange how the rows of data appear on the screen.’
For example, the data is currently arranged in order of set number. If you wanted it arranged in order of something else (e.g. year of release), follow these steps:
1. Highlight all the rows you want to rearrange as follows:
a. click on the row numbers at the left hand side, starting with row 4
b. drag to highlight all rows down to row 5416- it takes a little while!
2. Click on the ‘Data’ tab, then click on the ‘Sort’ option, then
a. select Column I in the drop-down list in the ‘Sort by’ box, then
b. click on OK.
3. You can choose a second column as a subsidiary sort. For example, with ‘Release date’ (column I) as the primary sort criterion, you might choose ‘Set number’ (Column A) to put the sets in set number order within each year (this is the way in which Collector sorts sets, for example).
(Those familiar with spreadsheets may use a ‘header row’ as the basis of sorting, but in this spreadsheet there are 3 header rows, so that method would be possible only by deleting 2 rows, perhaps rows 1 and 3).
If you are not careful about what cells have been marked prior to sorting, Sort can really mess up a spreadsheet, so I seldom use it. A much better command is Filter…
‘Filter’ means ‘hide certain rows so you only see the ones you are interested in’.
Filtering rarely messes up the spreadsheet data. You can filter one column or several. It is probably best to make all columns filterable to start with:
1. Click in the extreme top left corner of the spreadsheet (above the 1 and to the left of the A) to mark all the cells in the spreadsheet
2. Click on Filter in the Data tab. A small white arrow appears at the top of each column. (the view of the spreadsheet often jumps to the right, so scroll horizontally using the slider at the bottom right, back to the columns you are interested in)
3. Decide what you are interested in (e.g. Theme, column E), then
a. click on the arrow at the top of that column,
b. uncheck ‘Select all’ at the top of the list, then
c. click anything you are interested in, e.g. ‘Leisure’ and ‘Freetime’.
d. Click OK and the software hides all rows except those with Leisure or Freetime in column E. It also hides the column headings (rows 1, 2, 3), which can be inconvenient. To avoid this, click on the arrow again and click on the column heading in the list – ‘Theme in PlaymoDB’ in this case. Click on OK. All column headings will now be shown
Of course you can do the same thing on PlaymoDB (‘Choose from all themes’ on Home Page, or ‘Show sets by theme’ on any other page, select Leisure and Freetime, click List Sets) and you get set pictures too!
But with spreadsheet filters, you can filter several columns at once, so if you wanted ‘Police sets issued in 1983 or earlier, with 5 or more klickies’, you filter columns E (choose Police), column I (choose each year 1974, 1974.5, 1975… to 1983) and column M (choose 5 and 7 klickies- there are no sets with 6 klickies and the other two criteria) .. and you get 5 sets. Want to see pictures of them? Copy the block of 5 cells in column B (which have PlaymoDB set numbers) and paste the selection into the box here, click on Submit and the set pictures are displayed.
Find
If you are looking for a specific set but can only remember part of the name, this can be very useful. For example, to find the ‘Merry Men’s Feast’ set, searching for ‘Merry’ gives four hits
In the ‘Home’ tab, click on ‘Find’ at the right hand side, or a quicker way is to hold the control (CTRL) key and press the F key.
In the box which appears, type in the search item (e.g. a set number, part of a set name, etc.) and click on ‘Find Next’. The view of the spreadsheet will jump to a cell containing that search term. If it isn’t exactly what you are looking for, click on ‘Find Next’ again.
You can also click on ‘Find all’ and you get a list at the bottom of the box showing all occurrences of your search term. Click on the one you want and the view will jump to that entry.
If you get the message ‘Microsoft Excel cannot find the data you are searching for’, click OK and then make sure you have not inadvertently selected a small group of cells (if so, click on any single cell and try again). Or, turn off any filters (click on ‘Filter’ in the ‘Data’ tab). Then try the ‘Find’ action again.