for anyone interested, I figured out a little hack to get some of my lists to sort in the order i wanted

I was adding zeros, but I didn't like the look of it. I've just discovered blank spaces work better for me, and they aren't even noticeable. To get this list in the right order there are as many as three blank spaces before the first character, but it didn't take long. happy with the result. Hope this helps someone else.

Cheers,