One of the appealing features of Microsoft Word is alphabetizing. Alphabetizing in Microsoft Word is quite simple once you learn the process.
This article will explain how to put the texts, numbers, or dates in alphabetical order.
Fast Access:
- Alphabetical order in Microsoft word
- Sort numbers in Word
- How to Alphabetize By Something Other Than the First Word
- Alphabetize Text in a Table
- Sorting lists in Word
Alphabetical order in Microsoft word
Path: go to the Home tab > click on the Sort in the Paragraph group
When you click on the “Sort,” Sort Text window will appear. The Sort Text window gives you several options to sort numbers, texts, dates, etc.
For example, you have some words and want to put them in alphabetical order.
Path: select the words you want to sort > click on the “Sort” in the paragraph group > set the “Sort by ”drop-down box to paragraph and the “Type” to text > press OK
Notice: Make sure to set the radio button to Ascending.
Then MS Word will sort your text automatically.
There is another radio-bottom at the bottom of the “Sort Text” window. If your list has a header, set it to Header Row. But also, you can deselect the Header and set it to no Header Row.
Sort numbers in Word
Path: select the words you want to sort > click on the “Sort” in the paragraph group > set the “Sort by ”drop-down box to paragraph and the “Type” to number > press OK
It’s the same as before, but when you select your numbers, you should choose the Number in the “Type” drop-down box.
How to Alphabetize By Something Other Than the First Word
Path: go to the Home tab > click on the Sort > click on the Options at the bottom > set “separate field at” to Other > set “Sort by” to what you want
Sometimes you need to sort by something other than the first Word. For example, you have a list of students and want to sort the list by the last name(second word). In this example, you do the same as before, but before setting the “Sort By” drop-down box, you should click on the options at the bottom of the “Sort Text” window and then set the “separate field at” to Other.
Notice: By default, there is a “-” in the other’s field, and you should change it to one space.
Now in the “Sort by” drop-down box, you can see more options. And for this example, we need the second word, so we set it to Word 2.
Alphabetize Text in a Table
Same as before, you should use the “Sort” option in the paragraph group.
Let’s see an example to understand it better.
For example, we have a table for the Student’s information.
| number | F.name | L.name | Student code |
| 2 | Arvin | Amini | 23589 |
| 3 | Aryan | AK | 65478 |
| 1 | Max | Milian | 14325 |
| 4 | Mohammed | BSH | 94521 |
Step 1: select the table.
Notice: If you are selecting the headers too, you should change the “My list has” bottom to “header row.”
Step 2: Open the “Sort Text” window
Path: go to the Home Tab > click on the Sort in the Paragraph group
Step 3: set the “Sort by” drop-down box
Usually, the first row of a table is the headers, so MS Word will automatically detect the headers and will show you in the “Sort By” drop-down box. But sometimes, you see columns 1, 2, etc.
Notice: Two other sections(the Then by sections) allow you to decide how your table sorts itself when you have multiple similar items in the first sort’ condition.
For example, when there are two of the same F.name, sort them by L.name. So it is good to set the “Then by” option in the “Sort Text” window.
Step 4: press OK
Now Word will sort your table as you want.
Sorting lists in Word
It’s the same as sorting the words. as previously mentioned, use the “Sort” option to sort your bullet lists. But Microsoft Word only can sort Single-level lists, and this method wouldn’t work for multi-level lists.