How to Sort Text Alphabetically in Microsoft Word

How to Sort Text Alphabetically Using the Sort Menu on the Table Tools Tab

The second way to sort text alphabetically in Microsoft Word is to use the Sort menu on the Table Tools tab. This menu can be used to sort the text that is in a table. Here are the steps:

1. Select the table that you want to sort alphabetically. You can select the entire table or part of the table. Make sure you don’t select text that isn’t in the table, such as headings, subheadings, or footnotes.
2. Click the Table Tools tab in the Ribbon. This tab will appear automatically when you select a table. Otherwise, you can press Alt + J on your keyboard to activate this tab.
3. In the Data group, click the Sort icon. The icon is the same as the Sort icon on the Home tab. You can also press Alt J SO on your keyboard to open this menu.
4. In the Sort dialog box, select the Sort by option. You can select Field 1 to sort text by the first column in the table, Field 2 to sort text by the second column in the table, and so on. You can also select the column names you give the table, if any.
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. If your table has a title row, you can check the Header row option. This option ignores the title line when sorting text, so the title line stays in the top position. If your table doesn’t have a title row, you can check the option No header row. This option considers the first row in the table as part of the data you want to sort.
11. When you’ve finished specifying your sorting options, click OK. The table you select will be sorted alphabetically according to the criteria you specify.

Here’s an example of a table sorted alphabetically using the Sort menu on the Table Tools tab: