How to Sort Lists in a Word: 2007 Document

Transcription

1 How to Sort Lists in a Word: 2007 Document Subject Descriptors: How do I sort lists?, How do I sort multiple lists?, How do I sort lists within a table?, sort lists, word: 2007, How do I use the sort options?, sort a list Application: Microsoft Word: 2007, Windows xp Task Description: How do I sort lists in a Word: 2007 document? Tutorial Date: 21 May, 2009, By Sarah Zabriskie Sorting One List 1) Highlight the list you would like to sort 2) Select the Home tab 3) In the Paragraph group, click the Sort button How to Sort Lists in a Word: 2007 Document - 1

2 4) A window will appear with different options that will allow you to sort your list 5) Look at the number one in the diagram above. If you click on the small arrow beside this option, a small drop-down box will appear with two options: Paragraphs and Field 1. Since we are working with only one list, you will want to make sure Paragraphs is selected instead of Field 1. We will work with fields later when we are sorting more than one list. 6) Look at the number two in the diagram above. This option asks you what type of list you want to sort. Does your list contain text, numbers, or dates? Our list contains text so I will make sure text is selected. 7) Look at the number three in the diagram above. With this option you can decide whether you would like your list to be in an ascending order, or a descending order. I want my list to be in alphabetical order, so I have selected Ascending. 8) I have a header in my list that I don't want to have sorted in with the rest of my list. At the bottom of this window in the My List Has group, I am going to select Header Row. Now when my list is sorted my header will not be sorted in with the rest of the list. If your list does not have a header, select No Header Row or word will think the first line in your list is a header and will not sort it in with the rest of your list. Things to Keep in Mind When Sorting Multiple Lists Above are four lists I would like to sort. When you sort multiple lists, Word refers to each list as a field. I have divided my lists up using four tabs. But don't let that fool you into thinking that there are 4 fields. When I highlighted my lists, you can see that there is quite a bit of space highlighted to the left of my How to Sort Lists in a Word: 2007 Document - 2

3 lists. Word thinks that is field number one, and the first list (under name) is the second field. When you sort your lists, be sure you know which field is which so you will sort it the right way. A great way to figure this out is by highlighting all your lists. If there is space before or after the lists, understand that word will count that as a list even though there is nothing in that field. Sorting Multiple Lists Once you discover where the individual fields are, you need to decide how you want to sort your lists. I want to sort my lists numerically by number. To do this, follow the directions below. 1) Highlight your lists. 2) Make sure the Home tab is selected. How to Sort Lists in a Word: 2007 Document - 3

4 3) Click the Sort button. A new window will appear. 4) Click on the little blue arrow beside the option marked number one. A drop-down box will appear. 5) We decided that the list we want to sort our data by is field 4, so select Field 4 from the drop down box. 6) The option marked number two asks us to specify the type of text that is in the list. 7) Click on the small arrow beside this option. A small drop-down box will appear. Since the text in this list is numbers, select Number in the drop-down box. 8) I would like my numbers to be sorted from smallest to largest, so I will be sure to select Ascending from the options directly to the right of the Type option. 9) When I highlighted my lists, I did not highlight the headers of my list. Therefore I need to be sure to select No Header Row at the bottom of the window or Word will think the first words in the lists are the headers and will not include them in the sort. How to Sort Lists in a Word: 2007 Document - 4

5 Sorting Multiple Lists Using Multiple Sorts You can sort your lists in more than one way using the sort option. For example, if you would like to sort the lists above by team as well as by name, follow the directions below. 1) Highlight your lists 2) Make sure the Home tab is selected. 3) Click the Sort button. A new window will appear. 4) The team list is in the third field, so I would select Field 3 from the drop-down box marked number one. The type of text we are sorting is text, so I would choose Text from the drop-down box marked number two. I want the teams to be listed in alphabetical order, so I would select Ascending from the How to Sort Lists in a Word: 2007 Document - 5

6 options just to the right. 5) Now that the Team list is sorted, we can go on and sort the Names list. 6) Just below the Sort By group is the Then By group. We will make the specifications for the Names list in the same manner as the Team list above. 7) The Names list is in field number two, so select Field 2 from the drop-down box marked number three. The type of text is text, so select Text from the drop-down box marked as number four. We want the names to be in alphabetical order, so select Ascending from the options just to the right. 8) Hit the OK button 9) Now you will see from the diagram above that the lists are sorted in alphabetical order by teams and the names within the teams are in alphabetical order. Sorting Lists in Tables The Sort option can be used to sort lists in tables as well. To sort lists in tables, follow the directions listed below. 1) Highlight the entire table by clicking on the square with the arrows in it on the upper left corner of the table. (Shown in the diagram above with an arrow.) How to Sort Lists in a Word: 2007 Document - 6

7 2) Make sure the Home tab is selected. 3) Click on the Sort button. A new window will appear. 4) If your table has headers such as the diagram above, make sure the Header Row option, marked with a number one, is selected. This will allow you to sort your lists by the name of each of your headers instead of fields. 5) If your table does not have headers, select No Header Row, marked with the number two. This will allow you to sort your lists using column numbers. 6) This time I want to sort my lists by Date of Proposal Submission. To do this I would select Date of Proposal from the drop-down box, marked by the number three, because that is the name of the header I want to sort by. 7) The text beneath this header are dates. so I would choose Date from the Type drop-down box. 8) I want the data to be sorted from the latest date up to the most recent, so I will select the Ascending option to the right of the Type option. How to Sort Lists in a Word: 2007 Document - 7