In a Table view, entries are normally shown from first to last sorted alphabetically or by another column of your choice.
You can group similar entries together to divide the entries in a view into smaller, more manageable chunks. You must choose a particular column to use for grouping; entries with the same value in that column will be put together in a group. In the resulting view, the groups will be shown in order of the group name (whichever value the entries share), and the entries in each group will be sorted by whichever column they were sorted before.
Grouping can be very useful in conjunction with subtotals. For each column that has subtotalling active, you will see a subtotal for each group as well as a total for the entire view. Multiple levels of grouping (see below) will produce multiple levels of subtotals.
Grouping can be used to produce a Compact view which shows a summary of all of the entries in a group without showing each entry individually. Grouping is also very useful for creating charts.
You can add more than one level of grouping to a view to create sub-groups (and sub-sub-groups etc.). To apply a second level of grouping, simply repeat the procedure to group using a different column.
Each additional level of grouping applies within the group that precedes it.
For example, in a view containing people with a column for Last Name and a column for First Name, if you apply grouping by Last Name first, then apply grouping by First Name, the resulting view will contain a group for each identical last name, and within each of those groups, will also show you people who share the same first name as well.
Therefore, the order you apply grouping is quite important. In this example, grouping by First Name before Last Name would result quite a different view (though perhaps an equally informative one).
Each group in your view shows a name (the value those entries share). There is a button next to the name to apply a filter to the view limiting it to this group. This is a quick way to focus on one group in particular by hiding the other groups.
The Grouped Entries column header contains a menu very useful for working with groups.
Each level of grouping you’ve applied will have its own submenu from which you can choose:
You can also choose Sort within groups to change which direction entries within the groups are sorted, or to restore sorting by the name of the entry.
Finally, click Show entry counts to show a counter next to each group name. The counter indicates how many entries that group contains. (To avoid distraction, the counter is hidden by default.) If you have enabled the counter, you can hide it by clicking Hide entry counts instead.