How to Sort Text Alphabetically in Microsoft Word

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

The third way to sort text alphabetically in Microsoft Word is to use the Sort menu on the Mailings tab. This menu can be used to sort text that is inside documents, letters, labels, or envelopes. 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 Mailings tab on the Ribbon. You can also press Alt + M on your keyboard to activate this tab.
  3. In the Write & Insert Fields group, click the Sort icon. The icon is the same as the Sort icon on the Home tab. You can also press Alt M + SO on your keyboard to open this menu.
  4. In the Sort 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. 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 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 Mailings tab:

Before:

  • Dear Mr. Smith,
  • Dear Ms. Jones,
  • Dear Dr. Lee,
  • Dear Mrs. Brown,
  • Dear Mr. Green,

After (Sort by Paragraphs, Ascending, Ignore punctuation characters, Ignore symbols):

  • Dear Dr. Lee,
  • Dear Mr. Green,
  • Dear Mr. Smith,
  • Dear Ms. Jones,
  • Dear Mrs. Brown,

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