How to sort in a Crosstab on a Data Item that is not displayed in the report

Resolving The Problem

Build the crosstab report including the column or row that controls the sort and then hide this sort key column or row from the report but leaving it in the query. Perform the next steps to ensure that this data item (sort key) is not seen in the report:

If the item that the sorting was based on was added as a Column:

1) Select the column and in its Box Type property, click None. This effectively hides the column, but the sort order is maintained

If the item that the sorting was based on was added as a Row, setting the Box Type to None will cause the column details to shift out of line with their headers therefore alternative steps need to be taken:

1) Unlock the report by clicking the corresponding button on the toolbar

2) Hide the box for just the text in the row (not the entire row) by setting the Text Item's Box Type property to None

3) With the whole row selected, under the Box section of the Properties window, hide the Borders by setting their color to White (or whatever the background is)

4) Under the Color and Background section of the column's Properties, set the Background Color to "Transparent"