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One of the great things about Word tables is that they provide more than a clear way of organizing data—they also give you a means of reorganizing data. Because Word includes a Sort function, you can easily reorder the information in your table by searching and sorting on certain key words or phrases.
Tip - Try the beefed-up sort capabilities
Sort capabilities have been improved in Word 2002. Now you can do a multilevel sort in a single column. For example, you can sort first by last name and then by first name in a single column of data.
The easiest way to sort data in a Word table is to simply click in the table and click Sort Ascending or Sort Descending on the Tables And Borders toolbar. Figure 18-18, shows two tables with the same data. The table on the left is sorted in ascending order, and the table on the right is in descending order.
If you want to use Word to do a more specialized sort, you can display the Sort dialog box by clicking in the table and then choosing Table, Sort. The Sort dialog box provides you with the means to sort by three different fields, data types, and document elements. (See Figure 18-19.)
Figure 18-18. Word sorts data in ascending or descending order based on the data in column 1.
Figure 18-19. The Sort dialog box gives you the means to search on three fields.
To enter sort specifications in the Sort dialog box, follow these steps:
Note
Two-Name Search Produces Unexpected Results
If your two-name search doesn't give you the results you expect, make sure that you've used the right character to separate the words. If you're searching for <FirstName> <LastName>, you need to insert a space to separate the words. If you're searching <LastName>, <FirstName>, you need to include a comma and space between the words. To enter the separator character, choose Table, Sort and click Options. Select the separator you want in the Separate Fields At section.