How to make a list in the "Word" alphabetically: tips

Working with documents in the program "Word" often involves the compilation of lists alphabetically. So, students need to make out lists of literature, leaders or their secretaries - lists of employees. Of course, for the convenience of work you need to know how to make a list in the "Vord" alphabetically automatically. It's pretty simple. This article describes how to compose simple and numbered lists, based on the division of the text into paragraphs.

Preparation

Before making a list in alphabetical order in the Vord, the materials (positions of the future list) must be prepared. They must satisfy the simple requirement: each position must be separated from the other by the paragraph sign. At this point, your materials will already be a list, but it will be stripped of structure.

A common mistake in compiling lists is to put extra paragraphs. For example, if each position is not a single line, but a paragraph of a complex structure (say, a bibliographic description and an abstract), it is easy to skip an extra paragraph mark separating the output of the book from its description. This error is fraught with the fact that the program will read these two parts as independent, make them different positions, respectively, distribute the list in alphabetical order far apart.

The second common mistake is the absence of a paragraph mark on the boundaries of positions. Instead of it there can be other sign (for example, a blank). So often happens when a paragraph takes a line, and the transfer to a new one is done automatically, and not forcedly, that is, by pressing the Enter key. In this case, the "Word" does not divide the list items and, accordingly, sorts the "stuck together" elements by the first of them.

Therefore, before making a list of literature in alphabetical order in the Word, turn on the display mode of unprintable characters and make sure that, firstly, each future position is separated from the subsequent paragraph mark, secondly, there are no unnecessary divisions inside each paragraph.

Sort alphabetically

To sort the resulting list alphabetically, select it and in the "Home" tab on the "Paragraph" tab, find the "Sort" button.

In the window that opens, in the left field select the option "Paragraph", and in the right ("Type") - the option "Text".

Thus, the criterion for separating one fragment from another for the program is a paragraph (its "Word" will be taken as a unit of the list), and sorting will occur not by date and not by numbers, but by letters.

Note that the "Word" allows you to sort in descending order and ascending: just make the appropriate choice.

After clicking OK, your list will be sorted alphabetically.

A common mistake when creating a numbered list

Students and authors of other qualification papers are often interested in how to make a list in the "Word" alphabetically, which also contains numbering. This is quite simple, if you do not allow one mistake, which for some reason is quite common.

The fact is that the program can sort both by letters and by numbers, so you can often see how the author manually numbers the list, and then tries to format it. This is the wrong way.

Create a numbered list alphabetically

In order for the list to be sorted alphabetically and still numbered, it needs to be formatted as numbered.

To do this, select the list and click the "Numbering" button on the "Home" tab. Each of the paragraphs will be assigned the corresponding number. Numbered list in alphabet in "Word" is created by the same algorithm as unnumbered. When sorting, the numbering is automatically changed (updated).

List Expansion

It is important to know not only how to make a list in the Vord alphabet, but also how to continue it.

If you need to add one or many items to the material base, you do not have to search for them in the appropriate place, just write them as separate paragraphs, then select the whole list and then sort it again - the new places in the list will find the corresponding places, and the numbering will be updated again.

Features of formatting

Sometimes there are difficulties with the fact that the list in alphabetical order in "Word 2010" (as well as in earlier versions) when you include new items in it is not automatically formatted. The most common problem is that the program does not number the newly added elements and, when updating the sort, takes them out of the general list.

To avoid this, you do not just need to add new paragraphs at the end of the list, but also include in the overall numbering. "Word" is a pretty whimsical application, so at this stage it happens that the inserted elements are numbered, but their formatting differs from all other positions. Therefore, it is better to include new elements in the overall numbering using the "Format by pattern" button on the left side of the "Home" tab.

Place the cursor on the numbered part of the list, select one of the paragraphs completely, including the final nonprinting character, double-click the "Format by pattern" button, and then select the new paragraphs of the list. They will be included in the general list.

Now you can select the entire list and sort it again.

As is often the case, the story of how to sort the list in the Vord alphabet is much more complicated and longer than the procedure itself. It is enough to go through all the stages several times from start to finish, and sorting the list will not present any difficulties.