Alphabetize List Tool

The tool splits what you paste into items, one per line unless you pick commas, semicolons or spaces. It trims the spaces around each item and skips blank ones. Then it compares the items two at a time and puts them in order.

The comparison follows the Unicode Collation Algorithm, the rule set browsers and phones use to sort names. Upper and lower case count as the same letter, so apple sits next to Apple. Accented letters sit next to their plain letter, so é files with e.

Natural order, the default, reads a run of digits as one number. So item 2 comes before item 10, the way a person counts. Strict order compares one character at a time, and since the character 1 comes before 2, item 10 lands first.

By number value ignores the words and sorts by the first number in each item. It reads 1,200 as twelve hundred and treats a minus sign at the start of an item as negative. Items with no number go to the end.

Shuffle uses a numbered random sequence. The same shuffle number always gives the same order, so a shared link shows the same shuffle to everyone.

Ms. Patel's class roster

She copies 10 lines from a sign-up sheet. One is blank, and one parent typed olivia chen in lower case after Olivia Chen had already signed up. With Remove duplicates on, the tool skips 1 blank line, drops 1 repeat and returns 8 names, from Ava Lindqvist to Sophia Haddad. The first spelling pasted is the one kept. Open this example in the tool

A book club reading list

Sorted as typed, the 10 titles run 1984, A Tale of Two Cities, Beloved and so on, because A Tale of Two Cities files under A. With Ignore The, A, An on, the order changes in 6 places: The Great Gatsby now files under G, between Dune and Jane Eyre, as a library shelves it. Beloved still shows twice, once in lower case, which the sentence under the answer points out. Open this example in the tool

Photo files and a price list

Natural order gives photo1.jpg, photo2.jpg, photo3.jpg, photo10.jpg, photo20.jpg. Strict order gives photo1.jpg, photo10.jpg, photo2.jpg, photo20.jpg, photo3.jpg, which is rarely what you want for files. Open the file names

For prices, By number value gives $15 cable, $80 headphones, $950 phone, $1,200 laptop. Sorted as text, $1,200 laptop comes first, because the comma breaks the number into 1 and 200. Open the price list

The big number is how many items came out. Under it, the whole sorted list appears exactly as Copy result will copy it. The tiles show how many items you pasted, how many repeats were removed and how many blank lines were skipped. If the numbers do not add up to what you expected, the Every item table lists each item with the line it came from.

The table titled What each option would change sorts your list again with one option switched. It counts how many places would hold a different item, or how many items would drop. Zero means that option makes no difference to this list, so you can leave it alone.

The letter chart shows how the list spreads across the alphabet. The # bar holds items that start with a number, a symbol or a letter outside A to Z, such as Ö. Pick a letter under the chart to see only its items.

Word by word order, used here, puts a space before any letter. So the cities sort as New Haven, New York, Newark. Letter by letter order, used in some dictionaries, ignores the space and would put Newark first. The Chicago Manual of Style describes both and prefers letter by letter for indexes.

• Pasting a comma list as one line. With New lines picked, the whole line is one item and nothing moves. Pick Commas under Separators, or use the Split on commas button that appears.
• Sorting people by first name. The tool sorts by the start of each line. For a list by surname, write Chen, Olivia rather than Olivia Chen.
• Expecting Swedish or Spanish order. In Swedish, å, ä and ö come after z, and Spanish dictionaries give ñ its own place after n. This tool files accented letters next to the plain letter, the usual choice for English.
• Losing a repeat you meant to keep. Remove duplicates ignores case unless Match case is on, so Mark and mark count as the same name. Check the Repeats removed tile before you paste the list back.
• Numbers with units in natural order. Natural order reads 1,200 as 1 and 200, and 2.5 as 2 and 5. For prices, weights and other measured values, pick Number in each item.