Can I sort Fields in Word Table?

[Rogerbid]

Hi

Not sure there is a way to do what I want, but no harm in asking!

In Word 2003 SP2, I have a table containing a large number of Field Codes and have just realised that I cannot sort the table in the normal way. Is there any way of sorting data under these circumstances?

Thanks,

Roger

 

[BenRowe]

This will not work if you need the field codes to remain as field codes: select the field codes, present Alt + Shift + F9 to convert them to text and then you could sort.

 

[macropod]

Hi Roger,

I'm using Word 2000 and have no difficulty sorting rows containing fields in that environment. What problem are you having with Word 2003?

If you're worried that formulae using cell references might get mucked up, you could lock the fields (via Ctrl-F11), which would be far better than converting them to text. If you add another column to your table, with the existing row numbers, that would enable you to re-sort the data later one back to its original structure.

Cheers

[MS MVP - Word]

 

[Rogerbid]

Thanks for the two replies! I take your point Ben about being unable to revert to field codes.

Macropod, the problem I have is that the rows will not sort at all, they just sit there looking back at me, and I swear I can hear them laughing at me! Each cell in the table has a field like:

"INCLUDETEXT "X:\\DATA\\WRKINST\\HMWRKRS\\3MMST423.doc " WICUST\* MERGEFORMAT"

and the text remains unsorted.

I am not familiar with Ctrl+F11 so will experiment, Thanks,

Roger

 

[Rogerbid]

Sorry, but just had a thought. Maybe you are thinking I am trying to sort a table containing different types of data , of whist some columns are Field Cells. This is not the case, all columns are made up of field cells. Say the column I am trying to sort by has the code I quoted in my previous reply, for one document this might translate to 3MATH014 and it is by this text that I want to sort.

Hope I made it clearer.

Best regards, Roger

 

[Madawc]

I don't know anything about Field Codes, but it occurs to me you could create an extra column and sort by the converted value of the field code. Maybe something as simple as 'Paste Special' and choose unformatted code. Failing that, copy the table to excel, have a column of conversions and copy

Madawc Williams (East Anglia, UK). Using Windows XP & Crystal 10

 

[macropod]

Hi Roger,

I still can't see what the sorting problem is.

I can create a table in Word 2000, insert various INCLUDETEXT and LINK fields into the same or diferent cells, all pointing to another document, and sort the data whichever way I want - subject to the proviso that if there are multiple entries in one cell they can't be sorted across entries in other cells, but this is normal anyway.

Are you sure you've:
. got one entry per cell, or all entries in the one cell
. selected the appropriate sorting criteria (number/text/date)
. selected the appropriate sort order?

Cheers

[MS MVP - Word]

 

[Rogerbid]

Hi Macropod & Madawc

I am sorry for my delay in responding again, something else cropped up and the question of sorting tables had to take second place. Hope you don't think I was disinterested in your replies!

In view of your comments Macropod, I have tried again to sort a different table in a different Word document, and in this case I have got the sort working just fine! Filled with enthusiasm I reverted to the original file that was causing so many hassles and it still will not sort properly! I think I shall just have to recreate the file from scratch, something must be corrupted in the original I guess!

Thanks everyone for your kind assistance, Best wishes,

Roger