Sort Content in Lists and Tables
In Microsoft Word, you can easily sort content in both lists and tables. Here are the steps to do so:
Sort a List:
Select the list that you want to sort.
Go to the Home tab on the Ribbon.
Click on the Sort button in the Paragraph group.
In the Sort Text dialog box, select the type of sort you want to apply (e.g. alphabetical order).
Click OK.
Sort a Table:
Click anywhere in the table that you want to sort.
Go to the Table Tools Design tab on the Ribbon.
Click on the Sort button in the Data group.
In the Sort dialog box, select the column you want to sort by, the sort type (e.g. ascending or descending), and any other options you want to apply.
Click OK.
Note: When sorting tables, you can also choose to sort by multiple columns. Simply click on the Add Level button in the Sort dialog box and repeat the above steps for each additional column you want to sort by.
To quickly arrange the references in alphabetical order, we can sort the list. Word can quickly sort paragr4aphs in alphabetical, numeric, or date order based on the first characters in each paragraph. The sort order can be ascending (A to Z or 0-9). The rules used while sorting are
| Sort by | Rules |
| Text | First items beginning with punctuation marks or symbols (such as !@#&) are sorted. Second, items beginning with numbers are sorted Dates are treated as three digit numbers Third, items beginning with letters are sorted |
| Numbers | All characters except numbers are ignored. The numbers can be in any location in a paragraph |
| Date | Valid date separators include hyphens, forward slash (/), commas, and periods. Colons (:) are valid time separators. If unable to recognize a data or time. Word replaces the item at the beginning or end of the list depending on whether we are sorting in ascending or descending order. |
