Word 2007 question

I have a document that has a large list that is continually being updated.

Every time I add to the list I alphabetize it to keep it organized. I have a

separate set of text on the document as well that I am keeping out of

the alphabetize operation. The document is 7 pages and growing and will

potentially reach 20+. Right now the only way I know to alphabetize just

the list is to start at the top or bottom, click-hold and scroll to the other

end while not selecting the separate set of text. This is getting annoying

and will be time consuming real quick. In most other programs and window

applications you can select all then hold ctrl and deselect what you don't

want. I am not finding this to be the case with Word. I am sure (hope)

there is an easy way I am just not finding. The help file is no help either.

Thanks for any insight.

I moved your thread here.

Maybe you are using the wrong software? For manipulating data in a table I would use Excel!

Just a guess: you could record a macro to do the job.

I think I just might do that.

A large list of what? Either Excel (spreadsheet) or Access (database) might work depending on what is contained in the list and what you plan to do with it.

A spreadsheet program, Excel, Lotus, best bets.

Thanks again guys but the question still remains; in a Word document

can you deselect a set of words after selecting the entire document?

This is a personal list my father is wanting to compile and in his old

age he wants it his way. I guess I cannot blame him as I get my OCD

from him but his trumps mine by a factor of 20.

I will see if he is privy to using Excel.

...can you deselect a set of words after selecting the entire document?...

I don't think you can.

You can put the cursor in front of the first word in the list, Hold Shift down and then scroll down and click after the last word.

I know that's not what you were asking.

You can embed an Excel spreadsheet into the word document.

That way he doesn't have to open another program.

You may be able to have Macro automatically sort.

"It's kind of fun to do the impossible" Walt Disney

Good Luck.

I think we gave you an easy way to do it.

So if your father was to build a house he would use a hammer, a hand saw and a miter box instead of a nail gun, a circular saw and a compound miter saw? I admire his determination but does he really need to make the job more difficult than it has to be?

A resounding yes!

Case in point, he had a fire in his kitchen 14 years ago. He does not trust

anybody to do the renovation he envisioned. "Nobody can do it the way I

want it done" (not that she interviewed anybody let alone had someone look

at the damn thing). So he set off renovating the kitchen himself. The

"piece de resistance" was a bank of 3 skylights forming a rectangular

opening in the attic flaring into an oval shape light well into the kitchen.

Granted he did a great job but that one took 3 years+. The rest of the

kitchen... still unfinished. Cabinets yes but no counter tops, no working

stove, although it is in and he has been using a hot plate and microwave

for his meals. Did I mention he was a Boeing Engineer and now lives alone?

"a hammer, a hand saw and a miter box", too crude. Try a scalpel a hypodermic

and a slide rule.

The sad thing is, I asked him to help me with a list hoping for maybe a page

worth of suggestions. What I have received so far is 11 pages as he works

his way through the dictionary (Oxford and Websters) and has only just

finished the C's.

I love my dad.

P.S. I will convert the file to Excel and ask him to add to it from now on.

P.P.S And to curb your curiosity, it is a list of wordplay ideas for a book

I am working on, which is about all I can say. (He is also an English Scholar)

"P.P.S And to curb your curiosity, it is a list of wordplay ideas for a book

I am working on, which is about all I can say. (He is also an English Scholar)"

Mine ma was an English Prof at NYU, ain't dat nice!

I think we gave you an easy way to do it.

 

So if your father was to build a house he would use a hammer, a hand saw and a miter box instead of a nail gun, a circular saw and a compound miter saw? I admire his determination but does he really need to make the job more difficult than it has to be?

Hey, you used that same analogy on me a couple weeks ago. Time for something new.

I'll give you the mitre box... I never could get one to work in my early years. At about age 30, I bougt a 12" Dewalt compound mitre saw and never looked back. But there are cases where a hammer and a handsaw can do jobs that a nail gun and circular saw just can't (or can't do safely). Our boys longingly look at my palm sander and other smaller power tools that they might want to use. But mean ole dad makes them use sandpaper and a wooden block so they can learn the detail of what they are trying to do....