ACC2000: How to Sort Records in an Access Database

When you are working with data in Access, you may want to view your information sorted in a different fashion than it currently appears. This article shows you how to sort records in a table, a query, a form, or a report in an Access database.

Sorting Records in Form View or in Datasheet View

To sort records in Form view or in Datasheet view, follow these steps:

1. Start Microsoft Access, and then open the database that you are working with.
2. Open the table or the form whose data you want to view.
3. Click the field that you want to use for sorting records. To sort records in a subform, click the field that you want to sort. To sort records in a subdatasheet, display the subdatasheet by clicking its expand indicator, and then click the field that you want to sort.
4. On the Records menu, point to Sort, and then click Sort Ascending or Sort Descending.NOTE: In a form, you can sort on only one field at a time.

Sorting with Subdatasheets

In Datasheet view, when you sort the subdatasheet for one record, Microsoft Access sorts all the subdatasheets at that level. In a datasheet or subdatasheet, you can select two or more adjacent columns at the same time, and then sort them. Access sorts records starting with the leftmost selected column. When you save the form or datasheet, Access saves the sort order.

Sorting Records on a Report

1. Start Microsoft Access, and then open the database that you are working with.
2. Open the report in Design view.
3. On the View menu, click Sorting and Grouping to display the Sorting and Grouping dialog box.
4. In the first row of the Field/Expression column, select a field name or type an expression.
   
   NOTE: When you fill in the Field/Expression column, Microsoft Access sets the sort order to Ascending.
5. You can sort on up to 10 fields or expressions in a report. To sort your report on more than one field, add another field or expression to the Field/Expression column. The field or expression in the first row is the first sorting level. The second row is the second sorting level, and so on.