Sorting Records in Access

You may find that there are times when you need to look at the data in a table in a certain order. The Sort buttons available in the datasheet view allow you to quickly sort a datasheet. Once sorted, you can easily find the earliest or latest date in a field, or the largest or smallest value. To be sure, sorting a datasheet is a rather primitive way of sorting data in your database, you can also sort a query. Most likely you will find that you want your data formatted and sorted--in that case you will want to create a sorted report. However, for some tasks sorting the table datasheet is sufficient and it's also easy. The SlideShow below shows you how.

The Sort & Filter group of the Ribbon (shown in Figure 2-3) lets you rearrange the order of the rows and reduce the number of rows. Using the commands in this group, you will display the records you want in the order you want to see them. The following sections demonstrate how to use these commands.

Sometimes you might simply want to sort your records in a desired order. The QuickSort Ribbon commands let you sort selected columns into either ascending or descending order. To use these commands, click in a field you want to sort by, and then click Ascending or Descending. The data redisplays instantly in the sorted order. Right-clicking on a column and selecting either of the Sort buttons also sorts the data. The captions on the right-click menu change depending on the data type of the field. Short Text fields display Sort A to Z

In the next lesson you will learn how to filter records to display a subset of records in a table.

Test your knowledge on using the Find and Replace and Sort features.
Sorting, Finding Access - Quiz