Have you ever attempted to sort data that is not formatted as a table? It can be quite a taxing chore—unless you take advantage of Microsoft Word's very handy Table Sort command. This command allows you to sort any list of data.

For example, suppose you want to sort the following numbered list alphabetically by state and then by city:

  1. Newark, NJ
  2. New York, NY
  3. Dover, DE
  4. Baltimore, MD
  5. Tucson, AZ
  6. Philadelphia, PA

To sort this data using Table Sort, follow these steps:

  1. Select the numbered list in your Word document.
  2. Go to Table | Sort.
  3. In the Sort By drop-down list, select Field 2.
  4. In the Then By drop-down list, select Field 1.
  5. Click the Options button.
  6. Select the Commas option.
  7. Click OK twice.

In addition to sorting data in numbered lists, you can also use Table Sort to sort bulleted lists or any data separated by paragraph marks. For example, you can use it to sort bibliographical entries by the author's last name. Simply select the entries in your bibliography, and then go to Table | Sort and choose Paragraphs in the Sort By drop-down list and then click OK.

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