Access 2000 Introduction

Working with Records-Sorting Records

Since the only location that records can be added is at the end of the table, it can become necessary to rearrange the records. This is easily accomplished in Access with the use of the SORT ASCENDING and SORT DESCENDING buttons on the toolbar. To sort the records based on the order of a particular field, you simply have to have the active cell somewhere in that field, then click on the desired button. If you wish to sort by more than one column, highlight the columns by which you want to sort, then click on either button. (NOTE: the columns MUST be next to each other. If they are not, either move them or use a query to perform the sort.) The computer will sort by the data in the column to the left. It will sort on subsequent columns if the first column contains two duplicate pieces of data. Look at the following before-and-after examples:

We will now sort the table by Last Name in ascending order.

<Click here> for a video demonstration of this. (282K)