# Easy Chart pen group sorting **URL:** \ **Category:** Ignition\ **Created:** [April 9, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647 "2018-04-09T21:13:09Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 10\ **Page:** 1
**Author:** ![Brian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@Brian](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Brian)\ **Post date:** [April 9, 2018, 9:13pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/1 "2018-04-09T21:13:09Z")
Not a big thing, but is there a way to control the sort order of the pen groups in an easy chart? Looks like it’s alphabetic right now, which is workable, but a different order more related to the equipment process would be slightly easier for the operators to understand. ---
**Author:** ![ethomason](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/ethomason/32/43338_2.png) [@ethomason](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/ethomason)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 3:06pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/2 "2018-04-10T15:06:09Z")
Look for the “Sort Pens” property. If selected it will sort alphabetically but when false it keeps the order of the Tag Pens dataset. ---
**Author:** ![Brian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@Brian](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Brian)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 4:17pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/3 "2018-04-10T16:17:25Z")
I tried that, but it looks like that only affects the pens themselves, not the pen groups. The groups still seem to be sorted in alphabetical order. Thanks though! ---
**Author:** ![ethomason](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/ethomason/32/43338_2.png) [@ethomason](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/ethomason)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 4:41pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/4 "2018-04-10T16:41:17Z")
My mistake, I read the question too quickly! This looks like a good candidate for [ideas.inductiveautomation.com](http://ideas.inductiveautomation.com/forums/255378-ignition-features-and-ideas) A possible workaround would be to restructure your window and make the pens dynamic based on an equipment process selected by the operator. ---
**Author:** ![Brian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@Brian](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Brian)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 4:46pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/5 "2018-04-10T16:46:00Z")
No worries! Actually, all the pen groups need to be there. It’s just that the pen group that the operators are going to care about most ends up on the bottom. Like I said, it’s not that big of a deal. If they want to change what pens they are seeing, they will just have to look around for a second to find the group they are after. ---
**Author:** ![pturmel](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/pturmel/32/3295_2.png) [@pturmel](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/pturmel)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 4:50pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/6 "2018-04-10T16:50:20Z")
In a pinch, you could turn off the built-in pen management and replace it with a template canvas or template repeater, with a template driving dataset computed from the chart’s pens and tagPens. Then you could sort and group any way you like. ---
**Author:** ![Brian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/b/97f17d/32.png) [@Brian](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Brian)\ **Post date:** [April 10, 2018, 5:02pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/7 "2018-04-10T17:02:38Z")
Hmm, I’ll keep that trick in mind. For this particular instance, it’s not worth the hassle. But, it might be for something else in the future. 🙂 ---
**Author:** ![Duffanator](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/duffanator/32/3560_2.png) [@Duffanator](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/Duffanator)\ **Post date:** [April 12, 2018, 6:59pm UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/8 "2018-04-12T18:59:44Z")
A lot of times when I want to order pen groups I’ll preface them with 1), 2), 3), etc… Then they get ordered by the numbers. ---
**Author:** ![kartik.i](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/e9c0ed/32.png) [@kartik.i](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/kartik.i)\ **Post date:** [January 24, 2019, 7:06am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/9 "2019-01-24T07:06:40Z")
Hello guys I would love to add my queries on this section as I want to sort the Pens based on groups but with the help of dropdown menu. for ex. If i created a group of pens and these pens groups are created in one dropdown list then whichever group i select the easy chart will sort this for me. If anyone has faced this problem, please let me know the solution. ---
**Author:** ![sungkhum](https://sea1.discourse-cdn.com/inductiveautomation/user_avatar/forum.inductiveautomation.com/sungkhum/32/10636_2.png) [@sungkhum](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/u/sungkhum)\ **Post date:** [March 19, 2020, 1:56am UTC](https://forum.inductiveautomation.com/t/easy-chart-pen-group-sorting/17647/10 "2020-03-19T01:56:51Z")
It would be great to be able to choose a custom sort order.