Skip to main content

How to alphabetize lists in Microsoft Word

Microsoft Word is a powerful word processing application that's capable of creating complex and compelling documents. It can also perform very simple but useful tasks, like alphabetizing a list.

Here's how to alphabetize lists in Microsoft Word.

Difficulty

Easy

Duration

5 minutes

What You Need

  • Microsoft Word

Sort by the first item in a list

In this example, we'll look at a list of first and last names. We're going to sort them by the first name.

Step 1: To begin, select all the items in your list.

Select list items in Microsoft Word.
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Step 2: Select the Sort button from the Home menu.

The sort button in Word.
Image used with permission by copyright holder

Step 3: Under "Sort by" choose "paragraphs" and choose either "Ascending" (A to Z) or "Descending" (Z to A) on the right.

Step 4: Click OK and the results will now be alphabetized by the first name.

List Sorted by first name in Microsoft Word.
Mark Coppock/Digital Trends

Editors' Recommendations

Mark Coppock
Mark has been a geek since MS-DOS gave way to Windows and the PalmPilot was a thing. He’s translated his love for…
How to insert a checkbox in Word on Windows and Mac
A person using a computer in bed.

Whether you’re outlining a recipe or putting together a daily to-do list, Microsoft Word is a great tool for keeping all your ideas and information organized. Beyond its word processing capabilities, you’ll even be able to create electronic checkboxes that you can tick and untick. It’s really easy to do, and we put together this step-by-step guide to teach you how.

Read more
How to leave a team on Microsoft Teams
Several Microsoft Teams windows and features opened simultaneously.

Microsoft Teams is a terrific platform for workplace collaboration, but there may come a time when you need to leave a particular team. Whether it’s because a project has been completed, or specific employees are switching roles, or simply joining another team or project, removing yourself from an existing Teams collaboration couldn’t be easier. Plus, we’ve put together this step-by-step explainer for carrying out this task, which covers both desktop and mobile versions of Microsoft Teams.

Read more
Best Microsoft Office deals: Get Word, PowerPoint, and Excel for free
Students using Microsoft Office software on their laptops outside.

Even though Google Docs and Google Sheets are free, Microsoft Office and Microsoft 365 remain the golden standard in the fight between Microsoft vs Google on the most widely used office software. Unfortunately, this market dominance means that both Microsoft Office and 365 can still be quite expensive, and even though you can certainly get a free trial of Microsoft Word, if you want the full version and the rest of the suite, you'll need to pay. Luckily, there are quite a few good deals you can take advantage of that don't require you to spend the high prices that you would if you bought directly from Microsoft. To that end, we've gone around and collected the best deals we could find below.
Best Microsoft Office deals
Microsoft Office is a pay once, receive once service. You don't have to pay recurring monthly fees to use it, but the software also never updates. For what it's worth, the Microsoft Office packages are labelled "2021", so they're all fairly recent but also ripe for a good deal. With the exception of AI integrations, not much has really changed in the past couple of years when it comes to your basic document creation and these programs should continue to be effective for years to come. Depending on what package you get, you'll get access to different apps, based on the needs of the target audience. For example, Microsoft Office Home & Student 2021 keeps it lean and cool and with Microsoft Word, Microsoft Excel, and Microsoft PowerPoint being the only apps included.

Here are our favorite deals for the classic Microsoft Office experience:

Read more