MS Word - alphabetize directory listings

[DB]

Our IT guy screwed up and built a long list of member info without placing
everything in alphabetical order.

My question is - Is there any way to alphabetize a list of Directory names
that contains:

Company name
Persons' name (listed by last name first)
Address
Phone
Etc...

The company names are already in alphabetical order. I need the second line
(peoples' names) in alph order according to their last name. There are over a
thousand names and addresses and I don't want ot have to cut and paste!

??????

 

[Paul Berkowitz]

Our IT guy screwed up and built a long list of member info without placing
everything in alphabetical order.

My question is - Is there any way to alphabetize a list of Directory names
that contains:

Company name
Persons' name (listed by last name first)
Address
Phone
Etc...

The company names are already in alphabetical order. I need the second line
(peoples' names) in alph order according to their last name. There are over a
thousand names and addresses and I don't want ot have to cut and paste!

1. First, remove any extraneous text, leaving only the catalog.

2. Then, select just the text concerned, without any extra blank lines above
or below (do it manually) and go to Table/Convert/Convert Text to Table.
(Blank lines between items are OK, and will be ignored.)

3. In the window that comes up, make sure that the bottom button "Separate
by" is set to "Paragraphs", and change the number of Columns (top button) to
the number of fields per item (e.g. that would be 5 above if "Etc." were a
real field). The number of rows will change automatically to the correct
number. Leave Autofit alone. Click OK.

4. You'll now have a table, still selected. Leave it selected.

5. Go to Table/Sort. In the window that comes up, Sort by/Column 1, Then
by/Column 2. Table has No header row. Click OK. Now you have a table sorted
how you wanted.

6. Go back to Table/Convert/Convert Table to Text. Change "Separate Text
with" to Paragraph marks (it will be pre-set to Tabs - change it.)

7. Voilà! Click to de-select. Word has even re-inserted blank lines between
the items again. (If you want an extra double blank line, go to Edit/Replace
and replace ^p^p with ^p^p^p.)

Done.