Feature Requests
Kyle Bonde - Vertical GC Feature Request: Add Custom Order Number Column for Measurement Items
With the recent ZZTakeoff update, measurement items (example : "Excavate - Foundations - Electrical Bld") can’t be manually reordered and are sorted strictly alphanumerically after the folder level. This disrupts alignment with our estimating workflows.
Industry Standard:
Most estimating tools (e.g., Sage, Ediphi, Winest) follow:
- Folder structure (AKA) Sort/WBS groups THEN
- Items – sorted by a Order column (Ideally user controlled), with alphanumeric sorting being the last level if WBS & Order number match.
Why It Matters:
Our estimate databases already contain order numbers. Having zzTakeoff respect or allow custom ordering would:
- Match estimating database order.
- Keep estimating (left screen) and takeoff (right screen) in sync.
- Allow the user have more control while doing takeoff, vs locked into one description field.
- Quickly sort by order number, or by measurement item name.
Proposed Solution:
- Add editable Order column for measurement items
- Allow sorting by this column
- Support importing order numbers from/to the estimate tool.
Now where this get fuzzy is zzTO has many ways to pivot this data, and perhaps this order column might fit better in the takeoff item or the product SKU list that I'm now dabbling in ILO the measurement item.
Hi Kyle! If you can't re-order them then you must have it set to "Group By" with the Folder checked (which is forcing alphanumeric sort order also). If you uncheck grouping by Folder, then it should allow you to drag/drop them however you want. Currently, when you "Group By" something, it also sorts by that same property. As a future update, we could separate Group By and Sort By functionality for the sidebar, so you can control group by and sort by independently (including with a specific property/column as you mention). Order is tricky because there are many ways to group the data.
Heber,
Got it thanks for the clarification. I like the functionally of having it sorting by alpha-numeric and helps me keep things organized and consistent and think we should remove the "free form" but I'm sure others like that freedom tho.