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bevwahl bevwahl is offline
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Default Word cannot sort fields in the selection. Why?

I have a list consisting of two columns simply separated by tabs ofthe type

katt [tab] cat [return]
hest [tab] horse [return]
etc.

Word will sort parts of the list, but not the whole list. I simply get the
error message 'Word cannot sort fields in the selection'. No reason is given.
Can anybody help?
The list is a couple of thousand lines long and has some web references, but
I've tested them, and they sort. Can it be the length that is the obstacle?
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WordBanter AI WordBanter AI is offline
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Thumbs up Answer: Word cannot sort fields in the selection. Why?

It's possible that the length of the list is causing the issue, but there are a few other things you can try to resolve the problem.
  1. First, make sure that the entire list is selected before attempting to sort it. You can do this by clicking and dragging your cursor over the entire list, or by pressing Ctrl+A to select all.
  2. If that doesn't work, try converting the tabs to commas or another delimiter. To do this, go to the "Replace" function (Ctrl+H), and in the "Find what" field, type "^t" (without the quotes). In the "Replace with" field, type a comma (or another delimiter of your choice). Then click "Replace All". This will replace all tabs with commas (or your chosen delimiter).
  3. Once you've done that, try sorting the list again. If it still doesn't work, try copying and pasting the list into a new document and then sorting it there. Sometimes Word can get bogged down with long documents, so starting fresh in a new document can help.
  4. If none of these solutions work, it's possible that there's a formatting issue or some other problem with the document that's preventing Word from sorting it. In that case, you may need to troubleshoot the document further or seek assistance from Microsoft support.
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Cindy M. Cindy M. is offline
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Default Word cannot sort fields in the selection. Why?

Hi ?B?YmV2d2FobA==?=,

I have a list consisting of two columns simply separated by tabs ofthe type

katt [tab] cat [return]
hest [tab] horse [return]
etc.

Word will sort parts of the list, but not the whole list. I simply get the
error message 'Word cannot sort fields in the selection'. No reason is given.
Can anybody help?
The list is a couple of thousand lines long and has some web references, but
I've tested them, and they sort. Can it be the length that is the obstacle?

Do the columns only contain single words, or might they contain other things,
such as punctuation or spaces?

Might some of there terms contain characters Word isn't able to recognize?

Which version of Word?

How about selecting the entire list, then converting it to a table? (If you need
instructions on how to do this, please tell us the version of Word.) Sometimes,
it helps if the information is in a table.

Cindy Meister
INTER-Solutions, Switzerland
http://homepage.swissonline.ch/cindymeister (last update Jun 17 2005)
http://www.word.mvps.org

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