This site will have limited functionality while we undergo maintenance to improve your experience. If an article doesn't solve your issue and you want to ask a question, we have our support community waiting to help you at @FirefoxSupport on Twitter and/r/firefox on Reddit.

Search Support

Avoid support scams. We will never ask you to call or text a phone number or share personal information. Please report suspicious activity using the “Report Abuse” option.

Learn More

Is there a way to achieve a stable sort when you sort on a column in a message folder?

  • 3 replies
  • 1 has this problem
  • 2 views
  • Last reply by Matt

more options

E.g., when I sort on Sender, my usual problem is that I want them to remain in Received order and they don't.

https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorting_algorithm#Stability

E.g., when I sort on Sender, my usual problem is that I want them to remain in Received order and they don't. https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Sorting_algorithm#Stability

All Replies (3)

more options

You want to sort by sender, and are disappointed that the sort by date is changed to sender do that. You are doing the equivalent of changing the sort order of the days of the week to alphabetical then saying Monday no longer follows Sunday. Or are you expecting some sort of secondary sort order other than the primary.

more options

@Matt You apparently did not read the Wikipedia article I cited. For all the messages that have the SAME sender, I want them to remain in received-date order. That's what "stable sort" means.

more options

No it is not possible... I do not need to read a Wikipedia article on sorting algorithms to know that. The sort is stable, just obviously not offering in a form you want. You get to sort on one criteria, not two.