How to Alphabetize a List in Word, Excel, Google Docs and Sheets

The quickest way to alphabetize any list is to paste it into our free alphabetize tool, click Sort A-Z and copy the result back. If you would rather stay in your own program, here is how to do it in the most common ones.

Microsoft Word

1. Select the list you want to sort. Each item should be its own paragraph (one item per line).
2. On the Home tab, in the Paragraph group, click Sort (the A/Z button with a down arrow).
3. In the Sort Text box, set Sort by to Paragraphs and Type to Text.
4. Choose Ascending for A to Z or Descending for Z to A, then click OK.

Sort by last name in Word: in the Sort Text box click Options, choose Other under "Separate fields at", type a single space and click OK. Then set Sort by to Word 2. This works when every name is exactly "First Last". If some names include a middle name, use the Sort by last word option in our alphabetizer instead, which always uses the final word.

Google Docs

Google Docs has historically had no built-in command to sort lines or paragraphs. You have three options:

• Copy the list, paste it into the alphabetize tool, sort, and paste it back.
• Install a sorting add-on from Extensions → Add-ons → Get add-ons (search for "sort").
• Paste the list into Google Sheets, sort it there (below) and copy it back.

Google Sheets

1. Put one item per cell in a single column, for example A2 down to A50.
2. Select the cells, then choose Data → Sort range → Sort range by column A (A to Z).

To keep the original list and show a sorted copy, use a formula in another column: =SORT(A2:A50). For Z to A, use =SORT(A2:A50, 1, FALSE).

By last name: =SORT(A2:A50, REGEXEXTRACT(A2:A50, "\S+$"), TRUE) sorts full names by their last word. Keep the range free of empty cells, or the formula returns an error.

Microsoft Excel

1. Click any cell in the column you want to sort.
2. On the Data tab, click Sort A to Z (or Sort Z to A). You can also use Home → Sort & Filter.
3. If Excel asks, choose Expand the selection so the other columns in each row stay with their item.

In Excel for Microsoft 365 and Excel 2021 or later, =SORT(A2:A50) returns a sorted copy. In Microsoft 365, =SORTBY(A2:A50, TEXTAFTER(A2:A50, " ", -1)) sorts names by the last word.

The Rules of Alphabetical Order

• Upper and lower case are treated the same: "apple" and "Apple" sort together.
• Letter by letter vs word by word: in word-by-word order a space comes before any letter, so "New York" comes before "Newark". In letter-by-letter order spaces are ignored and "Newark" comes first. Dictionaries tend to use letter by letter; phone books, many indexes and our alphabetizer use word by word.
• Nothing comes before something: "Brown" sorts before "Browning", and "Brown, A." before "Brown, J." This is the rule APA style uses for reference lists.
• Articles in titles: library catalogs file "The Hobbit" under H. Tick Ignore A / An / The in our tool to do the same.
• Numbers: plain character sorting puts "Item 10" before "Item 2". Natural sorting puts 2 before 10, which is usually what people expect.

Last updated: October 4, 2026