Sorting By Date but grouping by another name/string

[Nmassarone]

Hello, i have tried looking for this answer but cant seem to find it anywhere. I'm trying to see if there is a way to take a set of data that have and sort it BY DATE (Descending) but keeping certain groups together (while still keeping the sort by date structure)

I posted an example below of what I'm looking for, the actual data i have it thousands of rows so this would just be a snipped but ideally what i would like is to sort by the date DESCENDING but keeping certain groups together if there are multiples

so for the example below just sorting by the date takes the name Kevin and Pat and splits them up but i want to keep those names together despite the date being further back.

Right now you can see just by sorting by date splits up the names Kevin and Pat

Name	Date
John	2/8/2023
Sam	1/31/2023
Kevin	1/20/2023
Charlie	1/20/2023
Chuck	11/17/2022
Gerald	11/11/2022
Kevin	6/27/2019
Donald	2/3/2019
Pat	11/27/2018
Warren	11/27/2018
Rick	10/8/2018
Pat	4/14/2016

Ideally what i would like to do is keep those names together DESPITE the date so it would look something like this

Name	Date
John	2/8/2023
Sam	1/31/2023
Kevin	1/20/2023
Kevin	6/27/2019
Charlie	1/20/2023
Chuck	11/17/2022
Gerald	11/11/2022
Donald	2/3/2019
Pat	11/27/2018
Pat	4/14/2016
Warren	11/27/2018
Rick	10/8/2018

If anyone could help with this i tried different things in designer and tried looking for an answer but cant seem to find one any help would be appreciated!

Thank you

[DataNath]

Hey @Nmassarone, in order to keep the names together, you just need to sort by [Name] in your Sort tool before sorting by [Date], so the configuration would look as so:

If your dates are in the above format then you'll need to parse it to ISO format so that Alteryx can actually deal with it. From there, you'd sort on that field instead and then could just use a Select to remove it again:

[cjaneczko · Accepted solution]

Does this do what you are looking to do?

[cjaneczko]

@DataNath I think they are looking to sort by date first, then if there is another instance of that name in the field, group the name with the field and sort the dates descending for that name. But not actually sort the data by name. Its a little bit more complex then just Name > Date.

[Nmassarone]

Hey @DataNath appreciate the response so the only thing is i want to keep the Date sort by so the only thing is see how Donald (row3) this should be more towards the bottom (right above the 2 Pat rows) and the Sam row should be row 2 not towards the bottom im trying to keep the Date From Newest to Oldest WHILE keeping the multiple names together

[Nmassarone]

@cjaneczko  PERFECT! this worked and sorted how i wanted appreciate everyone's help in this was spinning my head on this one appreciate the help

THANK YOU

[marajmolinaro]

Hi there,

Thanks for this! It is working as long as there are only 2 names, but in my file I have more than that - any chance you have a solve if there is another of the same name much farther down the file?

Thanks!
Mara

[marajmolinaro]

Apologies, missed tagging you in the below, but I do have a follow up question below - thanks in advance!!

[Nmassarone]

Hi Mara, my file had more than 2 names in it some were separated but i got the results fine .... a suggestion would be to first sort by the name column have its own sort tool just by name to get all the names together and then run through the rest of the listed tools>?

[marajmolinaro]

I did try that and it then sorted the whole file by name then date, which I need it the reverse, by date, then groups of names. 

When I ran it as is, it's working well for Alessia, but for Alessio, since he has multiple rows the third row is pulling the -1 record ID when actually I would want it to pull the original record ID for his name. If the names are close enough together (meaning the nominations came in close together), then it's not an issue, it's only if the date gap is high enough and there are more than 2 lines for the employee.