Manipulating genealogical info in Microsoft Word. Some of you may know this already, but I am passing this info on to those who don´t. Searching the web, you find all sorts of info such as census records, cemetary records, and other lists of people and indexes of diverse information. We all must have highlighted info we want to print out and pasted it into our word processing application so that we could save it and look at it at our leisure. There are several ways to manipulate this info to better understand it or to make interesting trends stand out. A. One simple way is to use the "find" command for a long text document. Using "find", (command + F) and inserting the word "Shelton" for example, will highlight every mention of the Shelton surname in the documant. You can also search for unusual first names, for example. As a matter of fact, you can search for whatever interests you. B. Another little known way to manipulate or rearrange lists or indexes. The following explanation assumes that you have pasted some sort of list into Microsoft Word. It does not seem to work in Word Perfect, for example. If you copy and paste from an e-mail, you probably lost the formatting as it always seems to be different than your word processor. Since the columns you are interested in have to be in line, use the tab key or at least the space bar to line them up correctly in Word. I have a Macintosh and not a PC, so I am am listing how I can sort by column, in a Mac version of Word. On a PC, the keystroke seems to be the same, but should not be hard to find. 1. To highlight any individual column, hold down the "alt" key ( Mac or PC) , and use the cursor to highlight the info you want to sort. Depending on where you started, you can drag the highlight in a rectangle of your choosing, right or left and also downward. This allows you to highlight exactly what you want to sort, as long as it is tabbed (lined up) correctly. Note that you can highlight right or left as well as upward or downward. Your highlight will always be a rectangle. (a column, in other words) 2. Then find the sort command on the Toolbar. On my Mac (Word 5.1) it is under "tools" on the toolbar. On later versions of Word, I think it is under the "table" menu. 3. When you sort a highlighted column, the associated rows follow without mixing up the info. In other words, sorting a column sorts the whole list of info, but the end result is that the info is still in the same basic rows and not all mixed up. As an aside, I use this technique among other things to: a. Remove tab spaces to the left of a column text. b. Remove extraneous junk at the end of column rows. c. Sort family info by date to find oldest and/or youngest. d. Sort census info to find everyone living in a numbered household, everyone male, or any other way you want to extract info. e. Remove the >> to the left of e-mail text that has been resent. f. Rearrange whole columns in a list or index. 1. For example, where the date is given by ddmmyy, you can cut the yy in the whole column and paste it in again before the dd, allowing you to sort by year. 2. You can also cut a column from the right side of a page and paste it wherever you like in the document. g. Sort marriage lists to alphabeticise the females instead of males. I am sure there are numerous uses that I have not thought of yet. Duane Mills Stavanger, Norway *************************** In the ficticious example below, various males are shown alphabetically with the info on who they married, and the marriage date As only one column can be sorted at a time, this makes the names of the wife a random collection of names. In a short list, this may be no problem, but in a list that is several pages long, finding a specific wifes surname becomes difficult? To highlight any individual column, hold down the "alt" key noted above and use the cursor to highlight the info you want to sort. To sort the wives below, the cursor should be placed before the Alder in column 3 and depress the "command key" and move the cursor to the right and downward. Then use the sort command mentioned above. Sample of sorting possibllities in a simple marriage list. When you sort by a column, all the rows follow without mixing up the info. In other words, sorting a column sorts the whole list of info by the column criteria you choose. The end result is that the info is still in the same basic rows and not all mixed up. The original husband and wife combination with the marriage date is still valid. *************************** Note: These marriages are ficticious. Original list: Acuff, William 10/24/1797 Alder, Alice Bean, George 8/11/1809 Ogle, Hillary Bird, Abraham 12/8/1805 Cox, Lee Ann Combs, Phillip 10/24/1797 King, Polly Dodson, Martin 9/10/1802 Grissom, Penelope Gilbert, Thomas 3/7/1800 Parkeyhill, Ginger Hall, John 7/17/1798 McBroom, Ann Hall, William 10/19/1808 Davis, Bertha Jennings, Jessee 9/10/1798 Evans, Dorthy Kitchen, Joseph 12/6/1797 Dodson, Nancy Martin, Joel 2/20/1798 McKee, Martha Martin, Robert 12/18/1805 Davis, Edna Parkerson, William 9/19/1801 Bristow, Theo Trotman, John 12/11/1809 Hale, Sally Williams, Thomas 7/18/1802 Holt, Willa **************************** List sorted by wife surname: (males are now random) Acuff, William 10/24/1797 Alder, Alice Parkerson, William 9/19/1801 Bristow, Theo Bird, Abraham 12/8/1805 Cox, Lee Ann Hall, William 10/19/1808 Davis, Bertha Martin, Robert 12/18/1805 Davis, Edna Kitchen, Joseph 12/6/1797 Dodson, Nancy Jennings, Jessee 9/10/1798 Evans, Dorthy Dodson, Martin 9/10/1802 Grissom, Penelope Trotman, John 12/11/1809 Hale, Sally Williams, Thomas 7/18/1802 Holt, Willa Combs, Phillip 10/24/1797 King, Polly Hall, John 7/17/1798 McBroom, Ann Martin, Joel 2/20/1798 McKee, Martha Bean, George 8/11/1809 Ogle, Hillary Gilbert, Thomas 3/7/1800 Parkeyhill, Ginger ***************************** List sorted by date married: (both sets of names are random) Note that to be sorted correctly, the year numbers had to be seperated enough to highlight the info downward. Acuff, William 10/24/1797 Alder, Alice Combs, Phillip 10/24/1797 King, Polly Kitchen, Joseph 12/6/ 1797 Dodson, Nancy Martin, Joel 2/20/ 1798 McKee, Martha Hall, John 7/17/ 1798 McBroom, Ann Jennings, Jessee 9/10/ 1798 Evans, Dorthy Gilbert, Thomas 3/7/ 1800 Parkeyhill, Ginger Parkerson, William 9/19/ 1801 Bristow, Theo Williams, Thomas 7/18/ 1802 Holt, Willa Dodson, Martin 9/10/ 1802 Grissom, Penelope Bird, Abraham 12/8/ 1805 Cox, Lee Ann Martin, Robert 12/18/1805 Davis, Edna Hall, William 10/19/1808 Davis, Bertha Bean, George 8/11/ 1809 Ogle, Hillary Trotman, John 12/11/1809 Hale, Sally ***************************** And lastly, note that you can sort the info over and over again until you get it sorted in the best possible way for your particular use. Sorting over and over again in different ways may let you see the info in a different way each time. Something may become apparent that you didn´t notice earlier.