MS Word 2003 Sort Alphabetically

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I’m running Microsoft Word 2003 and have created a table with a few columns and would like to alphabetize my list by the first column’s first letter. When I click on “Sort Ascending” A – Z it does sort correctly but it puts my entire list at the bottom of the page. When I click on “Sort Descending” the list correctly appears on the top in reverse Z – A. How can I get the Sort Ascending to appear at the top of the page? Thank you. Lee Lord

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Greetings. Are you sorting a list or a table? I am unable to reproduce your problem when I create a test table: I am able to select the column(s) I wish to sort, choose by which column I wish to sort, and then sort ascending or descending with no resultant problems???
I have also not been able to reproduce your problem with a numbered list. I am able to sort ascending or descending with no hassles.
Try creating a small two-column, three-row test table with simple words in each cell: Click on Table – slect – table – sort – sort by column 1 – sort ascending.
It should work fine. Then do the same but select sort descending. It should work fine.
If the foregoing works, then your original table is the problem.
Try selecting the contents of your original table, copy them and then paste them into a newly created blank table – Then sort the way you require it to be sorted.

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Are there any blank rows in your table? Sometimes table sorts will place blank rows ahead of rows that contain text, which might produce the result you’ve described.

Just a thought.

Let us know.

Jan

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A good point, Jan. May be that’s it. Hopefully Leslie will confirm this.

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Thanks guys for the responses. Yes I have several pages with empty rows. As I stated, when I select Sort A – Z it does so correctly but on the last page. I’ve done a test with one page only with entries only in a few rows with empty rows following and I followed the same procedure as you mentioned Peter, which I did originally by the way, and the same thing happens. All goes to the end A – Z. Just a note: In “Table AutoFormat” I checked “Heading Rows and First Column” under “Apply special formats to. But when unchecking, which I just did it makes no difference. I don’t see any other selection to choose. When I created this Table it was done with 5 rows with Movies Information, Name, (First column), Date, Actors, etc….. Again thanks for the help but I’m still in the same boat. Lee

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I suspect that it is sorting it correctly. “Space” and “null” have a lower values to computers than even the number 1. If the blank rows are at the bottom of the table, select just the rows you want to sort. If the blank rows are interspersed, you can delete the empty rows after the sort.

Pam

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Thanks everyone for the input. I have tried all the suggestions but still it sorts Ascending in alphabetical order A – Z but on the last pages. Sorting Decending brings it to the top page but Z – A. As I stated before I did a trial with only 1 page and filled only a few rows leaving the rest blank and did a sort Ascending A – Z and it did the same. Would it be possible that I could send one of you my table and see what I’ve done incorrectly? It’s actually 7 pages with 3 1/2 filled. The text is 9 point within the rows/columns. It’s my MOVIES chart of the ones I have accumulated. I’m at a loss. Thanks again. Lee

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Sure thing, Leslie. I’ll see if I can help.

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Did you try Pam’s suggestion about selecting only the rows you want to sort before performing the sort? That should produce the desired results.

Let us know.

Jan

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Jan, Yes I tried Pam’s suggestion but it didn’t work. Same thing occurred…. all entries went to the bottom page sorted ascending A – Z. I must be doing something wrong. I’ve tried all the suggestion but to no avail. Peter I sent you a pvt msg …… how can I get the word document table to you? Thanks again guys! Lee

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Leslie: You should have received my reply to your Pvt Message. If not. Reply here.

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I did receive it Peter and responded with the attachment. Thank you SO much!!!! Lee

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Can any lessons be reported in this thread after the private exchange? Could be helpful for future reference.

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Sure thing jscher. I am just waiting to hear from Leslie if he agrees with my solution.

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Yes Peter your solution worked and thank you very much for your time and effort !!! I responded to your email.

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A real pleasure! The “solution” was pretty much implied by PamCaswell and janbphd in earlier posts above, so I can’t claim “exclusive brilliance” in this matter!

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Thanks to all for the suggestions. I do apologize to Jan and Pam because they too stated the blank rows but what threw me off was the suggestions about “selecting only the rows you want to sort before performing the sort.” I should have realized to delete the blank rows, Stupid me, I apologize. After sending my file to Peter and him correcting and returning with the his total explanation (below) I totally understood. Again, thank you to everyone for bearing with me. Lee Lord

“I assume you have been selecting the entire table and then sorting with “ascending”, “text” and “header row” selected?
If your table had blank rows in it to permit you to add more movie data later, Word will sort “ascending” by placing all of the blank rows at the top, and THEN your data below all the blank rows (Word, by default, places empty rows “higher” in the sort order than numbers or text). That is why, when you sort “descending”, you sorted data appears beneath the header row with the blank rows all at the end/bottom of the table.

The solution is simple: select all the blank rows between the last (bottom) row of the table you sorted with “ascending” and in the “table” menu, select “delete” “rows”. You will then have a table with no blank rows. Now select the table and select “sort” “ascending” “text” “header row” and you will have a table as you want it. When you get new movies, place your cursor in the last (bottom row), select the “table” menu, select “Insert” row below and then type in the new details in the blank cells of the new blank row. Then select the whole table and sort again. Voila! All will be sorted with no blank rows.
The “trick” is to have no blank rows when you select the table for sorting. Only insert a new blank row for each new movie you want in the table, then sort the whole table again.”

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I’m really glad you got it to work. The image below, a table that in the after shot is sorted (by column 1), shows what I meant by “selecting only the rows you [need] before performing the sort.”

Being selective means you don’t have to delete your extra rows.

Pam

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Lee,

No need to apologize. It was just one of those situations where the communication wasn’t 100% clear. In my case, it didn’t occur to me that the blank rows might be interspersed throughout the table, though Pam did take that possibility into account.

Glad Peter was able to take Pam’s suggestion to its logical conclusion and get everything working.

Jan

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Jan and Pam thanks for the follow-ups and Pam thank you for the images. What you explained is what I did initially and I just tried again on the original…. by selecting ONLY the rows I needed and performing the ascending sort (by column 1), but again everything went to the last pages A-Z. This is why I was confused because for me it didn’t work. Am I missing something, not sure? When I delete the extra blank rows it works. Jan, in my original I had no blank rows interspersed throughout the table. They were all consecutive. You guys are much more knowledgeable than me but I think I did it correctly? Am I going to feel stupid? Thanks again everyone. Lee

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Sounds to me like you did it correctly. There must have been something else going on in that document. But listen, with Word, one should never feel stupid. Although the developers have tried to make it seem easy and simple, it is very powerful and complex. Small changes we make—or the developers make—can cause Word to behave differently and surprise us. It’s just another “aha” to learn about and get past.

Cheers,
Pam

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Pam’s right — there’s no need to feel stupid. It’s hard to know what happened, but it could have been some odd glitch. Or perhaps you accidentally clicked somewhere before doing the sort, thereby removing the selection without realizing you had done so.

Have you added any items to the table and re-sorted? If not, you might make a copy of the document to use for testing, add three or four new rows, insert one or two new items (one per row, but leaving at least a couple of rows blank), select the rows you want to sort, and try it. Go slowly so that you can see exactly what happens immediately before you click the button to sort the rows.

If you discover anything interesting, be sure to post back and let us know.

Jan

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Hi there Leslie. You still have my details. If you need more help, do not hesitate to send docs to me as before. We can always post the “solution” here in the Lounge afterwards as before.

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Again thank you all, Pam, Jan and Peter for the help. Bottom line is that my document is now working as I had hoped. Peter thank you for correcting and returning it to me. I now understand how to continue on, adding rows and data so it sorts correctly I’m sure there’s an anomaly on my part, something I missed, something I checked or unchecked so that the sorting (highlighting only the rows I wanted to sort) wouldn’t work for me. If I solve this I’ll post. Lee Lord

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