Alphabetizing a List Is Easy With The Alphabetizer

How do you put a list into alphabetical order in Word?

Sorting in Microsoft Word

Did you know that you can sort a list in Microsoft Word? It's true. No more cutting and pasting - just use the Sort Text command!


You can quickly and easily sort the text of a bulleted or numbered list in Microsoft's popular Word program so that your text is in alphabetical order.

  1. Add your text to a bulleted or numbered list. If it is not in a bulleted or numbered list, create a list by positioning your cursor where you want to insert the list and pressing the bullet or numbered list button (see Fig.1, highlighted in yellow)
  2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Sort (see Fig.2, arrow indicates sort button)
  3. In the Sort Text dialog box, under Sort by, click Paragraphs and Text, and then click either Ascending or Descending.

Note: to sort your text in Outlook, click Sort on the Format Text tab.

bullet menu item in MS word
Fig.1 - Create a numbered or bulleted list in Microsoft Word

sort button in Microsoft word
Fig.2 - Press the sort button to alphabetize your list

Related Resources

The Alphabetizer technology was designed to alphabetize and sort lists online using your computer or mobile device. This particular page provides information on alphabetizing lists in Microsoft Word, part of the Microsoft Office suite. The alphabetizer itself provides many sorting functions including the ability to: do abc order, remove HTML, ignore articles, capitalize and lowercase words and phrases, ignore case, order names, last names, add numbers, letters and roman numerals to lists, and more. Thousands of children and adults use this technology to help with their homework or business, or just for fun! And...it's free!