Sorting lists and turning text into tables in Write by Zaweba

Lists of names, prices and dates rarely arrive in the order you need. A club secretary is sent members in the order they joined, a price list comes out of a till in product code order, a set of results lands by time instead of by place. Write by Zaweba can put them in order and, if the text is laid out with tabs or commas, turn it into a proper table.

Sorting paragraphs and rows

Table > Sort works on two kinds of content. Select a run of paragraphs, such as a list of names one per line, and it sorts the paragraphs. Click inside a table, and it sorts the table's rows.

In a table you choose which column to sort by. The header row stays at the top, so the column titles don't get shuffled in among the data. You then choose how to compare the values, and in which direction, ascending or descending.

Text, numbers and dates

Choosing the right kind of sort matters. Sorting as text puts things in alphabetical order, which is right for names and places. Sorting as numbers puts 9 before 10, where a text sort would put 10 first because it starts with a 1. Number sorting understands pound amounts as well, so a column of prices with a pound sign sorts by value rather than by its first character.

Sorting by date puts entries in date order instead of treating them as strings of digits. That is what you want for event lists, membership renewal dates or a log of letters sent.

Descending order flips any of these. It is handy for highest score first, most recent date first, or most expensive item at the top.

Converting text to a table

Convert text to table takes text laid out with tabs or commas and makes a table from it. Each line becomes a row, and each tab or comma marks the start of a new cell.

This is very useful with data from other programs. Many systems export lists as comma separated text, and older documents often lined up columns with tabs. Pasting that text into Write gives you something that looks roughly tabular but breaks as soon as a name is longer than usual. Converting it gives a real table you can sort, add borders to and keep tidy.

Before you convert, check the separators. If an address in a comma separated list contains its own commas, it will be split across several cells. Tidying the source first, or using tabs, saves fixing the table afterwards.

Converting a table back to text

Convert table to text goes the other way and separates the cells with tabs. You might want this when copying the data into a plain text file, sending it to someone who will paste it into a spreadsheet, or simplifying a document where a table was overkill.

Putting it together

A typical job might go like this. You receive a list of entrants by email, each line with a name, a club and a time separated by commas. Paste it into a new document using Paste as plain text from the Edit menu, so no stray formatting comes with it. Select the lines and convert them to a table. Add a header row with column titles, then sort by the time column as numbers, ascending. You now have a results table in finishing order, ready to print or save as PDF.

When you sort, check a few rows afterwards, particularly if some cells were empty or held text where you expected numbers. And if a sort goes wrong, undo puts the rows back in their old order straight away.