How to alphabetize a list

[Guest]

IWhen I look in Help within MS Word (2003) it says How to sort a list or
table, and then it only tells how to sort in a table. This is just one long
list of names and I want to alphabetize the list. I don't want them in a
table. If I try to put them in a table and sort from there I get a long
black vertical line and the names disappear. Can anyone help? TIA.

 

[garfield-n-odie]

The Sort command happens to be under the Table menu, but your names
don't have to be in a table. Each name should be on a separate line
though. Select the list of names, and click on Table | Sort.

 

[Guest]

I answered this in the newsgroup. I tried that and still got the same black
line with the names having disappeared. BTW, each name was on a separate
line with its e-mail address indented under it; then a line space before the
next name.

 

[garfield-n-odie]

Scroll down a ways to see the names. When you sort a list containing
blank lines and non-blank lines, all of the blank lines will end up
together at the beginning of the document (sort order = nothing before
something).

 

[Guest]

OK, I took another look and I see where the names are under the long line.
Now I have another problem. I see that it mixed in the e-mail addresses
(which were indented) alphabetically. I was able to accomplish this in
WordPerfect and it only alphabetized the names, not the indented e-mail
addresses; it left them under each respective name. I'd like to have the
list in both Word & WordPerfect so I can share it with those who only have
Word.

 

[garfield-n-odie]

Start WordPerfect, open the WordPerfect version of your file, and "save
as" a Microsoft Word (.doc) file.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

That's probably because you have a paragraph break at the end of each line.
If you change the break between the name and the email address to a line
break, then Word will sort the paragraphs correctly.

--
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.

 

[Guest]

Thanks, Garfield and Suzanne. Suzanne, sorry to be dumb, but how do I
change the break from a paragraph break to a line break?

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Well, the reason I didn't go into that is that it probably won't be easy
unless you've by any chance got two paragraph breaks between entries. If you
have, then you can use Find and Replace to look for paragraph breaks (^p)
and replace with line breaks (^l). You then replace two line breaks together
(^l^l) with a paragraph break, and you're home and dry.

But if you have the whole list as a solid chunk--that is, line 1 is a name,
line 2 is an email address, line 3 is another name, line 4 another email
address, and so on, you'll have to do this semi-manually. You can insert a
line break manually by pressing Shift+Enter; if you select the paragraph
mark first (display nonprinting characters so you can see them), it will
replace it. But that would be very labor-intensive. Instead, use F&R to
replace ^p with ^l, but instead of using Replace All, just alternate Find
Next and Replace judiciously to replace only every other paragraph break.

--
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.

 

[Guest]

OK, you've given me a challenge for a learning experience! <S> I've printed
this info and will be brave and try it later on (got a busy schedule today).
Thanks!

 

[Guest]

Suzanne,

I tried what you said, and it worked! THANK YOU! I no longer have a
double line space between each name/e-mail address and the next, though; they
are all together. Is there any way to restore the double line space using
the same technique?

Joy

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

The easiest way is to Ctrl+A, Ctrl+0 (zero). This adds 12 pts Space Before
each item. If you'd rather have Space After, you have to visit the Format |
Paragraph dialog to do that. You do *not* want to use an empty paragraph or
line for this purpose.

--
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.

 

[Guest]

Suzanne,

If I'm understanding what you are saying, there would be a double space
between each line. The lines are now arranged with the name on one line,
then the e-mail address on the next line (indented slightly), then
(immediately) on the next line another name, followed by (indented) e-mail
address on the next line. The way it WAS, had a double line/space after the
e-mail address before showing the next name. Hope I'm explaining this right.
It's easier to read the list if there could, once again, be that double
line/space.

Joy

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Have you tried what I suggested? Press Ctrl+A, Ctrl+0 and see if that
doesn't give you the result you want.

--
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.

 

[Guest]

Wonderful! That did it! Thanks again. I see your posts on the MS
Newsgroup(s) and you are always SO helpful.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Glad I could help.

--
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.

 

[Guest]

IWhen I look in Help within MS Word (2003) it says How to sort a list or
table, and then it only tells how to sort in a table. This is just one long
list of names and I want to alphabetize the list. I don't want them in a
table. If I try to put them in a table and sort from there I get a long
black vertical line and the names disappear. Can anyone help? TIA.

 

[BruceM]

In Word 2000 you would select the text you want sorted, then click Table >
Sort, and choose to sort by paragraph. It is in my view absurd to sort
something that isn't in a table by clicking the Table menu, but there it is.
I don't know if they improved on the reasoning in Word 2003.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Sort is on the Table menu, but you can sort a series of paragraphs by
selecting it and using Table | Sort | By Paragraphs.

--
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.

 

[CyberTaz]

Perhaps it will ease the pain to consider that the overwhelming majority of
the sorting done in a word processing program involves content in a Table or
a Tabular List. Not only does it not seem absurd to have it there, but also
quite logical