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There are a number of rules that apply when sorting tables that contain special items (anything other than a category). The default behavior depends on the item type.
The following item types are sorted by default:
• Standard categories
• Nets
• Categories created by combining categorical variables
• Derived categories and user-defined categories.
The following element types have a fixed position by default:
• Base
• Unweighted base
• Mean
• Standard deviation
• Standard error
• Sample variance
• Subtotal
• Total
• Minimum
• Maximum
When an item has a fixed position, it means that if the item is third in the unsorted table, it will be the third item in the sorted table and items that are sorted will move around it, when necessary. For this reason, it is usual to place unsorted items at the beginning or end of the category list.
Text-only items are never sorted. Unlike nets, they are not tied to the items that follow. This means that text-only items are not generally suitable for use in sorted tables.
For all item types apart from text-only items, you can change the default sort behavior using the Keep fixed when sorting property. See the topic Edit Variable dialog box: Properties pane for more information.