Can anybody help, please? Is it possible in Word to automatically number lines of data so that the numbers remain ‘locked’ to the data after sorting as in Example 3 below? 1 – Original (Automatically Numbered) 1. One 2. Two 3. Three 4. Four 5. Five 6. Six 7. Seven 8. Eight 9. Nine 2 – Sorted (Numbering remains in sequence) 1. Eight 2. Five 3. Four 4. Nine 5. One 6. Seven 7. Six 8. Three 9. Two 3 – Desired Result (Data correctly indexed) 8. Eight 5. Five 4. Four 9. Nine 1. One 7. Seven 6. Six 3. Three 2. Two If not, can this be done in a Word table with the Index Number and the Data in separate columns? If not, can it be done in Excel? Thanks. Pattie.

Excel would probably be easiest, as long as you don't change the rows or sort after the entries are input. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

Jenny, Thanks for your suggestion, but the whole idea is to attach a number to each of the lines of data so that when they are sorted the numbers are also sorted. If, for example, a collection of CDs is to be catalogued, the data might consist of the song title, the artist, the name of the CD and the year of the CD. If the CDs are to be stored in numerical order, the listing could be sorted by all of the above headings for reference, but the index number needs to remain attached to the line of data so that that the disc can be easily located. The data itself is already listed. What I need to do is to add a number to each of the lines of data without having to number each line individually. I feel sure that there must be an easy way to do it. Pattie.

In Excel Column A contains your numbers Column B contains your data Select columns A & B Select DATA Select SORT Always sort by Column B In Word it can be done if you manually type the numbers first then the data. 1 one 2 two 3 three Select Table Select Sort In the 'Sort By' window make sure that the 'Type' is TEXT Then select to sort by 'Word 2' If you let Word automatically insert the numbers it won't work. The same logic used in the Excel example should work in Word if you use a Table. MIKE

In that case, I'd use Access. That's what I did for all the items I have associated with a particular band. Cd/magazines/vinyl, etc. "So won’t you give this man his wings What a shame To have to beg you to see We’re not all the same What a shame" - Shinedown

>>What I need to do is to add a number to each of the lines of data without having to number each line individually In Excel In cell A1 enter the number 1 In cell A2 enter the number 2 Highlight (Select) both A1 & A2 on the bottom right corner of the highlighted cells you should see a small black square, grab this square with your cursor, left click and hold, now drag the cursor down the column and each cell will be automatically numbered. MIKE

Hi all, With apologies for the delay in responding, many thanks to you all for your help - particularly to Mike whose solution worked a treat. Greatly appreciated! Best regards to you all. Pattie.