Word 2002 Table sort problem

[Yamanak Trueblood]

I want a list of books, authors & comments sorted by author with the
ability to add entries and resort. I created a table with 4 columns:
Title, Last Name, First Name, Comments. When I try to sort the table
using Col 2, Col 3, Col 1, I get the error message "Word found no
valid records to sort." I've checked Word help and help on the
internet and tried "replace" to get all "carriage returns" correctly.
I think I'm doing everything right, but obviously am missing
something. Any guidance would be appreciated. TIA

The only time I've got a sort to work is by copying and pasting one
column into a new doc and then it works on that list only. (Not a
table.)

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

If the names of the fields are in the first row (which you can designate as
a heading row), you can select the radio button for "My list has header
row," then sort by the actual column names.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA

Email cannot be acknowledged; please post all follow-ups to the newsgroup so
all may benefit.

 

[LadyDungeness]

Did you highlight ALL the columns in the table first, and then use the
sort command?


Lady Dungeness
Crabby, but Great Legs!
~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~~


On Mon, 27 Aug 2007 21:16:02 -0400, Yamanak Trueblood

|I want a list of books, authors & comments sorted by author with the
|ability to add entries and resort. I created a table with 4 columns:
|Title, Last Name, First Name, Comments. When I try to sort the table
|using Col 2, Col 3, Col 1, I get the error message "Word found no
|valid records to sort." I've checked Word help and help on the
|internet and tried "replace" to get all "carriage returns" correctly.
|I think I'm doing everything right, but obviously am missing
|something. Any guidance would be appreciated. TIA
|
|The only time I've got a sort to work is by copying and pasting one
|column into a new doc and then it works on that list only. (Not a
|table.)

 

[CyberTaz]

Just a guess based on your description, but it sounds like you've got all
your data in a 1-Row "table" - IOW, the content of each column has been
entered straight down the column using the Enter key. If so, all lines in
the one row are being considered as a single record, hence the message. That
would also explain why you're having to sort by Col1, Col2, etc. rather than
by Heading.

If I'm right you need to approach entering data into a table differently.
Use the Tab key to work your way across the first row one cell at a time.
Press Tab again at the end of the row to move down to the next row. The
Enter key is only used in a table to create paragraph breaks within a cell.

If each record is in a separate *row* - as opposed to just being on a
separate line within one tall row - the sort should work fine.

HTH |:>)
Bob Jones
[MVP] Office:Mac

 

[Yamanak Trueblood]

Thanks, your diagnosis is correct. I tried a small table using your
method. That also explains why there are no grid lines separating all
my rows. I'm a newbie at anything in Word other than letters and
envelopes and just pasted the titles into the table. Thought I used
tabs to add other data, but I think the damage had already been done.
By any chance would there be a way to convert my "1-row table" into
individual rows without needing to re-enter my data? I've only got
about 100 lines so far, so it's not a major problem. (P.S. Would there
have been a correct way to paste the data into a table?)

 

[Yamanak Trueblood]

Nevermind! I figured it out. I converted single columns to text, then
that text back to a table and copied the cells into new columns in a
new table. Mouse clicking, but not typing. Thanks for the help.