# Sorting Level Values
URL: https://docs.valsight.ai/sorting-level-values/
Description: Put the level values of a chart or table in a custom order, per level and per chart.
The level values of a chart or table are the rows of a table and the entries along the x axis of a chart. They can be put in any order you want, one chart at a time.

## What it is

By default level values follow the order they have in the model. Sorting is set per level, so a chart with **Country** and **City** has its own order for each of them, and it applies to that chart only.

## When to use it

* The default order does not match how your audience reads the figures, for example when a scenario should come last.
* Rows need to follow the structure of a statement rather than the structure of the model.
* Labels are disappearing where they collide, and the order decides which one wins.

To change the order nodes appear in within a model tree rather than in one chart, set their sort keys instead: see [Sort Key Settings in Nodes](/sort-key-settings-in-nodes/).

## Configuration

1. Select the chart or table. The chart editor opens on the right.
2. In the **Axes** section, click the sort button next to the level you want to reorder. The levels are grouped under headings named after the chart: **Rows** and **Columns** for a table, **X-Axis** and **Data Series** for most charts.
3. Drag the level values into the order you want, then confirm.

![The Axes section of the chart editor, with a sort button next to the row and column levels](./images/axes-section.png)

![The sort dialog, ordering level values by drag and drop](./images/5243633735.png)

## Good to know

* **Sorting here sorts one chart.** The model is untouched, and other charts keep their own order. For a model-wide order, use [Sort Key Settings in Nodes](/sort-key-settings-in-nodes/).
* **Order decides which data label wins.** In area and line charts, where labels collide the higher-sorted node's label is the one shown. See [Overlapping Data Labels](/overlapping-data-labels/).
* **Order and formatting are separate.** Subtotal and total formats sit in the styling dialog: see [Styling Data Series, Columns and Rows](/styling-data-series-columns-and-rows/).

## Related

* [Sort Key Settings in Nodes](/sort-key-settings-in-nodes/): the order nodes have in a model tree.
* [Styling Data Series, Columns and Rows](/styling-data-series-columns-and-rows/): colors, value labels and subtotal formats.