Content

• Steps
• Advice

Sorting alphabetically is a skill to learn in Word, especially if you often have to work with tables of contents and lists. Fortunately, once known, the process is very simple. This tutorial will show you how to organize your list alphabetically in all versions of Word.

Steps

Method 1 of 2: For Word 2007/2010/2013

1. 

   Open the file you want to edit. You can also copy and paste a list of words to sort into a document. To sort alphabetically, data needs to be formatted as a list with each item on one line.

2. 

   
   
   Select the text you want to sort. If the list is only part of the document, you don't need to highlight all of the text. If you want to sort a list in a large document alphabetically, just highlight the range of data as needed.

3. 

   
   
   Click the Home tab. In the Paragraph section of the Home tab, click the Sort button with the letter "A" above the word "Z", next to the downward arrow mark. The Sort Text dialog box appears.

4. 

   
   
   Choose the order. By default, sorting happens by paragraph. Click the Ascending or Descending button to choose how the list should be ordered. Ascending will sort the list alphabetically while Descending does the opposite.
   • If you want to sort by the second word of each category (eg last name for first name format, first last name in English), click the Options option button in the Sort Text window. On the “Separate fields by” field, select Other and enter a space. Click OK, then choose Word 2 from the Sort By menu. Finally, click OK to sort the list.
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Method 2 of 2: For Word 2003 and earlier

1. 

   Open the file you want to edit. You can also copy and paste a list of words to sort into a document. To sort alphabetically, data needs to be formatted as a list with each item on one line.

2. 

   Select the text you want to sort. If the list is only part of the document, you don't have to highlight all of the information. If you want to sort a list in a large document alphabetically, just highlight the range of data as needed.

3. 

   Click the Table menu and then choose Sort. The Sort Text dialog box opens.

4. 

   Choose the order. By default, sorting happens by paragraph. Click the Ascending or Descending button to choose a list order. Ascending will sort the list alphabetically while Descending does the opposite.
   • If you want to sort by the second word of each category (for example first name first, last name in English), click the Options button in the Sort Text window. In the “Separate fields by” field, choose Other and enter a space. Click OK, then choose Word 2 in the Sort By menu. Finally, click OK to sort the list.
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Advice

• You may need to click the down arrow at the bottom of the MS Word menu (such as the Table menu) to expand and view all the options.
• You can use MS Word as a tool to sort text alphabetically and include in any software that allows pasting text. Just edit in Microsoft Word first, then copy the sorted list and paste elsewhere.