2 Quick Ways to Change Word Order in Your Word Document

In today’s article, we plan to talk about the idea of changing word order in your Word document, along with 2 quick ways.

Generally, we will have to revise our draft over and over again to make it perfect. And in the process of revision, adjusting words order is one of the necessities. So, our topic today should be of great help for many of you.

Now, just read on and find out the details.

Method 1: Reverse a Numbered List

More often than not, we will have to deal with a large number of numbered lists in all kinds of Word documents, be it to sort items in an ascending or descending order. However, in this article, we will discuss how to reverse a numbered list. For example, below is an example:

Here are specific steps:

1. Firstly, let’s number the list with auto numbering feature in Word if there is no number yet.
2. Secondly, select the entire list.
3. Next, press “Ctrl+ X” to cut the list.
4. Then, make sure “Home” tab is displayed. Click the triangle on “Paste” icon.
5. And choose to click “Paste Special” on the drop-down list.
6. Now in “Paste Special” dialog box, select the “Unformatted Text” option.
7. Next click “OK”.
8. On the document, you will get a numbered list of unformatted items.
9. Next select items together with the numbers ahead of them.
10. Click “Home” tab.
11. Then click “Sort” option in “Paragraph” group.
12. Next in “Sort Text” dialog box open, choose “Paragraph” for “Sort by”.
13. And choose “Number” for “Type”.
14. As for sorting order, choose “Descending”.
15. And remember to click “OK”.
16. Now place cursor before the first number that’s “8” in this case.
17. Then press “Alt” and hold on to select all numbers vertically.
18. And press “Delete” to get rid of them.
19. Lastly, you can auto number the list by selecting them and clicking “Numbering” in “Paragraph” group under “Home” tab.

Similarly, if you have a bulleted list to reverse, just select the list and click “Numbering” to convert it to a numbered list, and then follow the above instructions.

Method 2: Change Word Sequence

In method 1, we have introduced you the way to change word order vertically by reversing a numbered list. Then in method 2, we will show you how to change word sequence in a horizontal manner.

For instance, below is what we want to achieve:

1. First and foremost, select the text which you need to adjust word order.
2. Then press “Ctrl+ H” to open the “Find and Replace” dialog box.
3. In “Find what” text box, enter “(<*>)” 4 times, for we select 4 words. And ensure there is a space between each 2 “(<*>)”.
4. In “Replace with” text box, enter numbers indicating new word sequence, with a “\” to separate each 2 numbers, such as “\4 \3 \2 \1”. Remember to leave a space between number and “\”.
5. Then click “More” to have more options available.
6. Next check “Use wildcards” box.
7. Finally, click “Replace All”.

Increase Your Vigilance

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Author Introduction:

Vera Chen is a data recovery expert in DataNumen, Inc., which is the world leader in data recovery technologies, including Excel problem fix tool and pdf repair software products. For more information visit www.datanumen.com