`org-table-sort-lines' function allows one to sort the rows of a
table, by the t/T format for the column only recognizes timestamps
with a date. A patch pasted below adds recognition of HH:MM durations.
diff --git a/lisp/org.el b/lisp/org.el
index c1fd346..e65d992 100644
--- a/lisp/org.el
+++ b/lisp/org.el
@@ -8042,11 +8042,14 @@ If WITH-CASE is non-nil, the sorting will be
case-sensitive."
((= dcst ?t)
(setq extractfun
(lambda (x)
- (if (or (string-match org-ts-regexp x)
- (string-match org-ts-regexp-both x))
- (org-float-time
- (org-time-string-to-time (match-string 0 x)))
- 0))
+ (cond ((or (string-match org-ts-regexp x)
+ (string-match org-ts-regexp-both x))
+ (org-float-time
+ (org-time-string-to-time (match-string 0 x))))
+ ;; possibly bolded hh:mm duration
+ ((string-match "^\\*?\\([0-9]+:[0-5][0-9]\\)\\*?$" x)
+ (org-duration-string-to-minutes (match-string 1 x)))
+ (t 0)))
comparefun (if (= dcst sorting-type) '< '>)))
(t (error "Invalid sorting type `%c'" sorting-type)))
