Sorting by 2 columns

[Rick]

I have created two columns separated by tabs and I'm trying to sort them
alphabetically by the items in the first column then by the second. I'm
following the instructions in HELP but it's not working: Select both columns,
Table/Sort, Options, Tabs, OK, Field 1, Field 2, No header row, OK. Any
suggestions

 

[Graham Mayor]

This works correctly for me. How many tabs have you inserted to separate
your 'columns' - and what result do you expect to see?

Let's take the example

Joe Bloggs
Alan Bloggs
Alan Jones
Brian Smith

that should sort to
Alan Bloggs
Alan Jones
Brian Smith
Joe Bloggs

or if sorted on Field 2 then Field 1

Alan Bloggs
Joe Bloggs
Alan Jones
Brian Smith


--
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Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

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[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

I suspect you may be misunderstanding what this type of sort does. Graham
has provided an example of this sort, which sorts by one column and then the
other as a subset of the first. If what you're trying to accomplish is a
sort of all the content in both columns, then you need to put the text in a
single column or snaking columns before sorting.

This can be accomplished by column-selecting the right column (press Alt
while dragging to select), dragging it below the left column, deleting the
tab characters, and then sorting, either before or after using Format |
Columns to restore the text to two (newspaper style) columns.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org

 

[Rick]

This works correctly for me. How many tabs have you inserted to separate
your 'columns' - and what result do you expect to see?

Let's take the example

Joe Bloggs
Alan Bloggs
Alan Jones
Brian Smith

that should sort to
Alan Bloggs
Alan Jones
Brian Smith
Joe Bloggs

or if sorted on Field 2 then Field 1

Alan Bloggs
Joe Bloggs
Alan Jones
Brian Smith


--
<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>
Graham Mayor - Word MVP

My web site www.gmayor.com

<>>< ><<> ><<> <>>< ><<> <>>< <>><<>




Your explanation helped immensely. Per Suzanne's email, I did misinterpret what the function is designed to do. I'm going to go back and work on it. Thanks.

 

[Suzanne S. Barnhill]

Note that if you have difficulty with the column selection (Alt+drag can be
problematic in recent versions of Word), there is another approach:

1. Select the text and use Table | Convert | Text to Table, separating at
Tabs. This will result in a two-column table.

2. Select the table (or just click in it) and use Table | Convert | Table to
Text, separating with paragraph marks. This will result in a single column.
It will be in a different order from the one created by column-selecting and
dragging, since you'll be alternating entries from column 1 and column 2,
but since you're going to sort the whole thing, anyway, it won't matter.

--
Suzanne S. Barnhill
Microsoft MVP (Word)
Words into Type
Fairhope, Alabama USA
http://word.mvps.org