Um. Does solution work for you (initialize variable from choices array with empty being the first )? Yes even with more columns it should still work by clicking header, thats as advanced as it needs to get :) i cant see a reason otherwise. Multiple dropdowns is definitely too laborious esp as number of columns increases. In the spirit of that approach would be a listbox with reorderable items where each item is a 3 radio buttons: asc desc ignore and label column header (and maybe uparrow button move item up in order...) Try both and see what makes more sense to you, i dont see extra popup clicks as advancement :)