diff --git a/docker/elasticsearch/Dockerfile b/docker/elasticsearch/Dockerfile
index 5847b7448f..12ccdc5b92 100644
--- a/docker/elasticsearch/Dockerfile
+++ b/docker/elasticsearch/Dockerfile
@@ -1,3 +1,6 @@
 FROM elasticsearch:2.4 
 
+# uncomment to allow (groovy) script in search/sort etc.
+# RUN echo "script.engine.groovy.inline.search: on" >> config/elasticsearch.yml
+
 RUN /usr/share/elasticsearch/bin/plugin install analysis-icu
diff --git a/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/ElasticSearchEngine.php b/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/ElasticSearchEngine.php
index 538755999f..43dc650c27 100644
--- a/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/ElasticSearchEngine.php
+++ b/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/ElasticSearchEngine.php
@@ -455,7 +455,57 @@ class ElasticSearchEngine implements SearchEngineInterface
             $sort['record_id'] = $options->getSortOrder();
         }
         else {
-            $sort[sprintf('caption.%s.raw', $options->getSortBy())] = $options->getSortOrder();
+            $f = array_filter(
+                $options->getFields(),
+                function (databox_field $f) use($options) {
+                    return $f->get_name() === $options->getSortBy();
+                }
+            );
+            if(count($f) == 1) {
+                // the field is found
+                $f = array_pop($f);
+                /** databox_field $f */
+                $k = sprintf('%scaption.%s', $f->isBusiness() ? "private_":"", $options->getSortBy());
+                switch ($f->get_type()) {
+                    case databox_field::TYPE_DATE:
+                        $sort[$k] = [
+                            'order' => $options->getSortOrder(),
+                            'missing' => "_last",
+                            'unmapped_type' => "date"
+                        ];
+                        break;
+                    case databox_field::TYPE_NUMBER:
+                        $sort[$k] = [
+                            'order' => $options->getSortOrder(),
+                            'missing' => "_last",
+                            'unmapped_type' => "double"
+                        ];
+                        break;
+                    case databox_field::TYPE_STRING:
+                    default:
+                        $k .= '.sort';
+                        $sort[$k] = [
+                            'order' => $options->getSortOrder(),
+                            'missing' => "_last",
+                            'unmapped_type' => "keyword"
+                        ];
+                        break;
+                }
+            }
+
+            /* script tryout
+                $sort["_script"] = [
+                'type' => "string",
+                'script' => [
+                    // 'lang' => "painless",
+                    'inline' => sprintf(
+                        "doc['caption.%s'] ? doc['caption.%s.raw'].value : (doc['private_caption.%s'] ? doc['private_caption.%s.raw'].value : '')",
+                        $options->getSortBy(), $options->getSortBy(), $options->getSortBy(), $options->getSortBy()
+                    )
+                ],
+                'order' => "asc"
+            ];
+            */
         }
 
         if (!array_key_exists('record_id', $sort)) {
diff --git a/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Index.php b/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Index.php
index 9671b83226..c6850c60d9 100644
--- a/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Index.php
+++ b/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Index.php
@@ -83,6 +83,12 @@ class Index
     {
         $this->analysis = [
             'analyzer' => [
+                // used to sort
+                'sort' => [
+                    'type' => 'custom',
+                    'tokenizer' => 'keyword',   // don't tokenize, keep whole value as a string
+                    'filter' => ['lowercase', 'asciifolding']   // asciifolding = remove diacritics
+                ],
                 // General purpose, without removing stop word or stem: improve meaning accuracy
                 'general_light' => [
                     'type' => 'custom',
diff --git a/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Mapping/FieldToFieldMappingConverter.php b/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Mapping/FieldToFieldMappingConverter.php
index 89749b9518..807ab35376 100644
--- a/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Mapping/FieldToFieldMappingConverter.php
+++ b/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Mapping/FieldToFieldMappingConverter.php
@@ -27,6 +27,10 @@ class FieldToFieldMappingConverter
                     $ret->disableIndexing();
                 }
                 else {
+                    // no more need "raw" for sorting (sort arg depends on type)
+                    // $ret->addChild(
+                    //     (new StringFieldMapping('raw'))
+                    //         ->enableRawIndexing());
                     $ret->addChild(
                         (new StringFieldMapping('light'))
                             ->setAnalyzer('general_light')
@@ -55,6 +59,10 @@ class FieldToFieldMappingConverter
                     $ret->disableIndexing();
                 }
                 else {
+                    // no more need "raw" for sorting (sort arg depends on type)
+                    // $ret->addChild(
+                    //     (new StringFieldMapping('raw'))
+                    //         ->enableRawIndexing());
                     $ret->addChild(
                         (new StringFieldMapping('light'))
                             ->setAnalyzer('general_light')
diff --git a/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Mapping/StringFieldMapping.php b/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Mapping/StringFieldMapping.php
index 4f7c9d360d..8ddef7fb96 100644
--- a/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Mapping/StringFieldMapping.php
+++ b/lib/Alchemy/Phrasea/SearchEngine/Elastic/Mapping/StringFieldMapping.php
@@ -57,6 +57,10 @@ class StringFieldMapping extends ComplexFieldMapping
         $child->setAnalyzer('general_light');
         $this->addChild($child);
 
+        $child = new StringFieldMapping('sort');
+        $child->setAnalyzer('sort');    // custom = lowercase(keyword)
+        $this->addChild($child);
+
         $child = new StringFieldMapping('truncated');
         $child->setAnalyzer('truncation_analyzer', 'indexing');
         $child->setAnalyzer('truncation_analyzer#search', 'searching');