How to Sort Text Alphabetically in Microsoft Word

Have you ever wanted to sort text alphabetically in Microsoft Word? Maybe you have a list of names, keywords, or titles that you want to organize neatly. Or maybe you have a table that contains data that you want to sort by a specific column. Whatever your needs, Microsoft Word has a feature that allows you to sort text alphabetically easily and quickly.

In this article, Bardimin will show you three ways to sort text alphabetically in Microsoft Word, namely:

• Use the Sort menu on the Home tab
• Use the Sort menu on the Table tabTools
• Use the Sort menu on the Mailings tab

Bardimin will also provide some secret tips and tricks to sort text alphabetically more flexibly and creatively. Let’s get started!

How to Sort Text Alphabetically Using the Sort Menu on the Home Tab

The first way to sort text alphabetically in Microsoft Word is to use the Sort menu on the Home tab. This menu can be used to sort text that is within a paragraph, list, or table. Here are the steps:

1. Select the text that you want to sort alphabetically. You can select one or more paragraphs, lists, or tables. Make sure you don’t select text that you don’t want to sort, such as headings, subheadings, or footnotes.
2. Click the Home tab on the Ribbon. Ribbon is the menu bar and icon located at the top of the Microsoft Word window.
3. In the Paragraph group, click the Sort icon. Ikonya is in the form of two arrows pointing up and down, with the letters A and Z beside them. You can also press Alt + H SO on your keyboard to open this menu.
4. In the Sort Text dialog box, select the Sort by option. You can choose Paragraphs to sort text by paragraph, Field 1 to sort text by the first column in a table, or Headings to sort text by heading.
5. In the Type box, select the Text option. This option sorts the text alphabetically. You can also choose other options, such as Number to sort text by number, or Date to sort text by date.
6. In the Order box, select Ascending or Descending options. The Ascending option will sort text from A to Z, while the Descending option will sort text from Z to A.
7. If you want to sort text by more than one criteria, you can add the option Then by. For example, if you want to sort text by the first column, then the second column, and then the third column in a table, you can select Field 1, Field 2, and Field 3 respectively, and specify the type and sort order for each.
8. If you want to ignore certain characters when sorting text, such as spaces, punctuation, or symbols, you can check the Ignore punctuation characters or Ignore symbols option. This option is useful if you want to sort text that contains phone numbers, email addresses, or zip codes, for example.
9. If you want to sort text that contains upper and lower case letters, you can check the Case-sensitive option. This option will distinguish between upper and lower case letters when sorting text. For example, if you select the Ascending option, text that contains uppercase letters appears before text that contains lowercase letters.
10. When you’ve finished specifying your sorting options, click OK. The text you select will be sorted alphabetically according to the criteria you specify.

Here’s an example of text sorted alphabetically using the Sort menu on the Home tab:

Before:

• Zebra
• Cat
• dog
• Snake
• Elephant
• bird

After (Ascending, Ignore punctuation characters, Ignore symbols, Case sensitive):

• bird
• Cat
• dog
• Elephant
• Snake
• Zebra