Volume 19 – October 2011

Advanced Sorting in Word

By default Word sorts text using the first letter of each paragraph.  For example:  if the format of <First_name> <Last_name> is sorted, it will sort by the first letter of the first name.  To sort by last name without having to retype the entire list as <Last_name>, <First_name>, review the steps below.

In Word 2007:

1. Open document in Word.
2. Select text to be sorted.  Click the Sort button located in the Paragraph group on the Home tab.  Sort Text dialog box displays.
   
3. Click Options button.  Sort Options dialog box displays.
   
4. Click Other from the Separate fields at section. Delete the hyphen in the text box. Enter a Space in the text box.
5. Click OK.  Sort Text dialog box displays.
   
6. Click Sort by drop down.  Select Word 2 from the list.  Select Ascending or Descending.
7. Click OK.  List is sorted by the second word.

Important Information
To perform the steps above in Word 2003, click Table, Sort from the menu bar to display the Sort Text dialog box.

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Creating a Drop Down Menu in Excel

Drop down menus in Excel are used to create a list of specific items for a user to select.  Using drop down menus ensures that all data being collected is consistent and appropriate.  For example:  a user needs to select from a list of health care providers that are available to them.  This would be a great feature to generate the list of health care providers.

In Excel 2007

1. Select cell(s) to convert to a drop down menu.
2. Click Data tab.  Click Data Validation in the Data Tools group.  Data Validation dialog box displays.
   
3. Choose List from Allow drop down.
4. Type the items to display in the drop down in Source text box.  Separate each item with a comma.  Click OK.Deselect cells to use drop down menu.  Drop down displays when cell is selected.

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