FAQ: How to sort lists in OpenOffice Writer

When putting lists together, sometimes we don’t put them in alphabetical or numerical order. Fortunately OpenOffice Writer can help us sort them into order automatically – and relatively easily.

You may have a list that needs sorting - it can be plain text or in bullets, or even within a table

Step 1: Highlight all the text that is to be sorted.

If that text is in a table, highlight the table (it will sort the rows automatically).

Step 2: Select Tools > Sort.

Select Tools > Sort from the menu

Step 3: In the Sort box, select the order by which you want to sort. If you are sorting a table, then Key 1 will be the first condition that will be used to sort, and you can specify the column, Key 2 will be the 2nd condition, etc. For lists, this doesn’t apply.

You will also decide if you want the order to be Ascending (A->Z), or Descending (Z->A) in this box.

Select the sort order and how it is to be sorted

Step 4: Click OK, and your list will be sorted.

And the list is sorted

Update: Now available – FAQ: How to sort lists in OpenOffice Calc, and as a PDF document on Scribd – check out Sorting in OpenOffice Writer and Calc.