How to Sort Lists Using Word 2002

Word 2002 has a feature that allows you to sort items in a list consisting of a series of paragraphs. This is a great way to arrange the text in your paragraphs. This article will provide an easy to use guide for sorting paragraphs Word.

Instructions

1. Open Word to access the word document that you will be editing. Click the menu bar and choose “Table.” Follow by clicking, “Sort.” This will open the “Sort Text” dialog box. Click the down arrow, located in the “Sort by” drop down box.

2. Choose the item from the drop down list that will function as your sort criteria. For example, choose "Paragraph" from the list if you wish to sort a list of paragraphs. If your paragraphs are divided into fields or separated by commas, tabs or other characters, you can sort based on a specific field by choosing “Field 1,” or “Field 2.”

3. Click the down arrow next to the “Type” option. Choose the item that indicates the way the text should be sorted. Choose, “Text” to sort your items alphabetically, “Number” to sort your items numerically and “Date” to sort your items chronologically.

4. Choose “Ascending” to sort text from beginning to end. Choose “Descending” to do the reverse.

5. Choose “Header Row”, by way of the “My list has” option, to eliminate the first paragraph from the sort. When this option is selected, the items in the first row are used to name the fields. Choose “No Header Row” to sort all selected paragraphs.

6. Choose the “Options” button. The “Sort Options” dialog box will open. You can use this area to specify the characters that you wish to use to each separate field. You can opt to choose, “tabs” or “commas”. You can also customize a character in the “Other” box.

7. Choose a specific language using the “Sorting Language” drop down list.

8. Click “OK” to close the close the dialog box.