Sorting contacts by Associated Company is not working

[monicaway]

On the Contacts page in the CRM, I added the "Associated Company" column but I cannot sort the contacts list using this column. 

Any ideas?

[Phil_Vallender]

Hi @monicaway

Try using the 'Company Name' field instead - this is sortable and should contain similar, if not the same, data. 

Does that help?

[monicaway]

Many thanks Phil for taking the time to help me.

In the case of our database, it turns out that "Company Name" contains much less data (and I'm not sure why) than does "Associated Company". I would rather sort by "Associated Company" for that reason. Is there a reason that you know about that causes some columns to be sortable while others are not?

On the same note, do you have any advice for sorting the Contacts list by "Name"? When I try, it does not sort that column properly.

Fingers crossed.

Monica

[Phil_Vallender]

Hi @monicaway

This is probably because Associated Company is populated automatically by HubSpot and Company Name is not. I use a workflow in the marketing tool to copy the associated company name to the company name, but this may not be an option for you yet. Other than exporting the associated company data from time to time and importing it into Company Name, I can't really think of a solution. 

Regarding name - sorting the Name field sorts by surname. If you want to sort by first name instead you will have to add the First Name column to your view and then sort that. 

Hope this helps.

[monicaway]

Thanks very much Phil for the info.

Can you describe a little bit more about what you meant by this: "I use a workflow in the marketing tool to copy the associated company name to the company name, but this may not be an option for you yet."

Many thanks,

Monica

[Phil_Vallender · Accepted solution]

Hi @monicaway

Sure! HubSpot's Pro marketing software includes a feature called workflows - these are really the essence of marketing automation. Workflows can do many things like sending emails to contacts and changing contact properties. One function is to copy information from one field to another. 

I use a workflow to copy the contents of the name field in the company object into the company name filed of the contact record - if that makes sense. 

Workflows are not included in the free CRM unfortunatly.

Let me know if you have any questions.

[monicaway]

 @Phil_Vallender - Any idea why Hubspot does not allow the CRM to sort by "Associated Company"? Seems unusual since it's possible to sort by so many other fields, including "Company Name" as you said previously.

Thanks!

[COReilly]

@Phil_Vallender Can you please provide a screenshot of the Workflow?

[Phil_Vallender]

Hi @COReilly

Sure, its a really simple one. 

[COReilly]

@Phil_Vallender Thanks!

[cdellen]

Yes, this is a real limitation and would seem to be a very simple fix... 

I think writing a workflow to help is a creative work around, but it is rediculous to have to go to that measure just to sort your contacts by company....

[TrevorSqE]

And also (for those of us on the Starter plan) it would seem to cost an extra $800/month to get the workflow feature...  Hubspot please do consider letting us sort by Associated Company, as it would be so much easier than filling out Company Name manually for each contact!

Our usage is this:  we're an agency with 75 odd support clients, and want to be able to run through our list of key contacts and check they're all correct - it's much easier to do this when sorted by company.  Thanks.

[TrevorSqE]

By the way - bit of a bulky hack but here's what we've done (without upgrading to get the HubSpot workflows):  export our list of contacts (including associated companies) to Mailchimp, which will let us sort by company name;  and use Zapier to sync things in future so that new contacts are copied across too.  This lets us use tagging in Mailchimp too (which we're hoping HubSpot will add in future!)

[Cameron_Smith]

I agree this is a problem.  We understand that Associated Company isn't technically a Contact property.  In general, however, ANY property that can be selected as a column in any Filter, Report, etc. should be sortable.  Otherwise, there is little to no use to include it.

Thanks,

Cameron

[AmberT]

This says it was solved, but I am still unable to sort contacts by company.  Is this a current capability of hubspot?

[Phil_Vallender]

Hi @AmberT 

It's still not possible to sort on the associated company column in a view of contacts. 

I am a little suprised this is the case. 

This post was marked as solved based on the workaround of copying the associated company name into the contact's company name property. Not ideal, but the best we can do right now.

[sarahbroderick]

This is quite puzzling - it's been an issue since 2017 on quite a few posts and still hasn't been addressed. Associated Company is a field in the CRM and we need to be able to sort by it - I get the "solution" of adding a copy of the field for Company Name, but that defeats the purpose of Hubspot's database and a value proposition. 

This is causing massive FRICTION for our team's processes. I've been able to do this functionality in other CRMs and feels like a let down not to be able to in HubSpot as I really like your  Please Please Please enable this functionality. 

Please 🙂

[MaggieCarr]

Agree – this function is really critical for us as we're working with a list of nearly 7000 contacts on a paid account. Alphabetizing would be a huge win. 

[jaknudsen]

Please consider making it possible to sort a contact list on Associated Company.

[MickInghamGB3]

I can confirm that Hubspot have done nothing about this, its poor that nearly every other column is sortable

[shawnlin]

Can't figure out why "Associated With" can't be sorted. It is already being listed in the view. For this little thing, paying for Pro for workflow is not justifiable. It is indeed very helpful for monthly review and presentation.

[PamCotton]

Hello @shawnlin, 

I was able to find this idea created in our ideas forum here 

This idea status still in submitted but my recommendation would be please like the idea and leave your comment there as our product team is constantly checking for updates, this will ensure they are aware of our customer's need and any updates to that idea you will be able to receive a notification.

Kindly,

Pam

[shawnlin]

Hi Pam,

I've left message in the post you indicated. Do you have a timeline when that idea will be reviewed?

[PamCotton]

Hi @shawnlin 

We don't have a timeline currently, if you left a comment in the idea, you will receive an email once is updated by our team.

Kindly,

Pam

[BenGro]

I have a question regarding the workaround that @Phil_Vallender  describes.

How do you solve the issue that the workflow doesn't update the contact property "company name" if the associated company of said contact is changed (instead of initially entered) or simply the name of a company gets update? 

[JoseLitre]

It sounds HubSpot suggest workflows when simple tasks can't be achieved from the front end. I don't think is appropiate to close this idea because a workflow is suggested as a workaround and only benefit those customers who licence the Pro version.

I had a very negative experience using a 'simple' workflows that HubSpot support setup for me and went totally wrong. Since then I'm walking away from 'the workflow magic wand'. Workflows are usually setup by HubSpot support or advance software users and I think this is not suitanable for your customers on a long term when employees leave the organisation and those automation magically change information on the front end due to complex workflows to fix simple issues. Is this a strategy to quietly upsell to HubSpot Pro maybe?

[TMullins]

It's very surprising that this was suggested nearly four years ago and there still isn't an easy, accessible solution. We attempted to create a redundant Company Name property in addition to the Associated Company so that we could sort by it, but that's only opened up more opportunities for human error, more work to enter those properties when creating new contacts, more headaches...

Sorting by Associated Company should be standard. It's shocking that it isn't.