While working in tables using Microsoft Word, and after entering data into cells, you might
later decide to sort that data. Like this table in our standard feed file, as I have already entered all the data into
a table, what I want now is to sort the list in alphabetically order, according to crumbs
item names. Before we actually go sorting this table, do note that, this table has a header row
means the first row indicating the description of the records below like, crumbs item names
MRP, price per bag, and availability, and we also have a total row in the end of this table
So, while sorting this table according to item names, I don't want the first heading
row and the last total row be sorted along with the entire table
So first what I did is, start selecting my table from the very first cell of the table
and while holding down the left mouse button I move down up to the last cell under Availability column
I am not selecting the total row here because I want it be stay there, even after the entire
table get sorted, this is why I am not including it into the selection
Once you select the desire area of the table, click the Layout tab from the Ribbon, and
then click Sort from the Data group. The first thing that you should take care in the sort window is, the header row
As you can see, in my case, my List as Header Row option is already being selected automatically
So, you must take care about this option that, does your table has a heading row or not
If you want to sort the entire table including the first row of your table, then you can
select the second option, No Header. You can see the effect of having or removing the header row right into the Sort by column
If I choose my List as Header Row, then you can see the heading names under the Sort by
drop down column. And if I choose No Headers, then you will see column numbers in the list
The second step while sorting the table is to choose, according to which column you want
to sort the data. As I want my table to be sorted alphabetically according to the very first column which is
Crumbs Item Names, so I choose Crumbs from the drop down list
Then you need to choose the data type for the column according to which you are going
to sort the list, like either the particular column has text values, numerical values
or dates. Word will try to make an assumption of its own, like if I change the sort column from
Crumbs to Price per Bag, then you can notice that the type has automatically changed to Numeric
Then you have the option that either you want to sort the data in ascending order or in
descending order, like sort the list from A to Z or, Z to, A, and if the column has
numerical values then, smaller the first or larger the first. After that you have two similar options of, Then By
In Then By column, you can choose other field from your table, according to which you would
like to sort your table. But here is a condition that applies to Then By option
Lets say that if I choose Price per Bag field in Then By column, that means, if the first
sort by column Crumbs have a duplicate record, then which duplicate record is listed first
It will depend on the sorting method of the column that you will choose in Then By option
I will show you an example in this video later, lets leave it blank for now
As soon as I press the OK button, you can see that, the entire data has been sorted
according to first column, whereas the header row and the last total row remain intact
Now we move to the second page and sort this table, where it does not have any header row
So I select this entire table, and click the Sort command. For this table, I will choose no header rows because I want to sort all the entries in
the current selected table, and I choose column 2 from the Sort By list, and sort it in descending
order, because I want the higher price item to be on top of the list
Now lets move to the third table to understand the concept of applying Then By option
As you can see in this table that that last two items in the table are duplicate items
but I want them in the table because they have different price tag
So what I need while sorting the table is, I want to sort the table according to first
column, but then if there is a duplicate value exist in the first column, then the item with
higher price get display first in the list. As I apply the changes, you can see the results
PreStarter Premium has two records, but the higher in price item is listed above in the
data after the sort. So, this is how the Then By option works only on duplicate records
There is one more option available that you may find useful while sorting the tables
To understand this option, lets move to the third page of this document, and select this
table having two fields only, Names and Addresses. As you can see that, under Customer Name column, full name of the customer has been typed
but both the first and last name has been separated using commas
Even headings of this column has been typed as, First Name, Last Name
So, if you ever have a table like this, and you want to sort it either according to the
first name or the last name, Microsoft Word can also help you in this as well
I select the entire table, and then click Sort from the Layout tab
Now if you click the drop down menu under Using, you can find the first name and last
name along with paragraph. As I want to sort my list according to last name, I select Last Name from the drop down list
If you have used similar separator, such as comma, in the entire list, then Microsoft
Word will try to automatically identify the separator, or you can tell Microsoft Word
about the separator by clicking on Options button below. Here you can choose the separator that you have used in data, or can type in other column
You can also tell Word to use Case Sensitive Sorting, if you want smaller and capital words
to be sorted separately. So as I apply the changes, you can see the results right away
The list has been sorted according to the last name for the first column of the table
So this was all about sorting your tables in Microsoft Word. Hope you will find this video useful
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