Sorting Text

Summary: The sorting feature of Word is used extensively to sort information in tables. It can also be used to sort information in regular paragraphs. This tip explains how to sort regular paragraphs. (This tip works with Microsoft Word 97, Word 2000, Word 2002, and Word 2003.)

If you do some exploring of the menus in Word, you will find that the Sort option is listed under the Table menu. Because of this, many people assume that you can only sort information stored in tables. This is not true; you can sort any information you desire. To sort text, follow these steps:

Select the text containing the information to be sorted. (If you are sorting a table, then simply place the cursor anywhere within the table. If you are sorting regular text, then select the entire list you want sorted.)
Choose Sort from the Table menu. Word displays the Sort Text dialog box. (Click here to see a related figure.)
Using the controls on the dialog box, indicate the way in which the text should be sorted. (For regular text, outside of a table, the normal way to sort is by Paragraphs. When sorting a table, you can select which column of the table you sort by.)
Click on the OK button.

Tip #1132 applies to Microsoft Word versions: 97 | 2000 | 2002 | 2003

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Sorting Text