Microsoft KB Archive/196758

= WD97: Numbers Containing Hyphens Sort Incorrectly =

Article ID: 196758

Article Last Modified on 1/23/2007

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APPLIES TO


 * Microsoft Word 97 Standard Edition

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This article was previously published under Q196758





SYMPTOMS
In some cases, Word may sort numbers incorrectly.

Case 1
When you perform a numeric sort operation on numbers that contain hyphens, such as social security numbers, phone numbers, and nine-digit ZIP Codes (postal codes), Word may sort the numbers incorrectly.

Case 2
Similarly, Word may sort your mail merge data incorrectly when you sort mail merge data records by using the Sort Records tab in the Query Options dialog box.



Case 1
If you select Number for the Sort By Type setting in the Table Sort Numbers dialog box, Word treats the hyphen as a minus sign. As a result, Word performs a subtraction operation and then sorts the difference. For example, if you sort the following list of nine-digit postal codes, Word performs a subtraction operation and then sorts the result.

  Nine-Digit Postal Code            Result If Subtracted --

11111-1111                       10000   99999-9999                        90000   95000-0001                        94999   98000-9999                        88001

Result of Sorting as Number      Number Used for Sorting -

11111-1111                       10000   98000-9999                        88001   99999-9999                        90000   95000-0001                        94999

Case 2
Similarly, in a mail merge operation, if you perform a sorting operation based on a field that contains hyphenated numeric data, Word automatically treats your data as numeric and, therefore, uses the hyphen as a minus sign. (To sort from a mail merge operation, open the Mail Merge Helper and then click Query Options.)

NOTE: Word treats the data in any mail merge field as numeric if the first character in the field is a number.



Method 1: Sort as Text
To correctly sort numbers that contain hyphens, select Text as the Sort By Type setting in the Table Sort Numbers dialog box.

Method 2: Sort Data File Before Merging
For a mail merge operation, if you want to sort based on a field that contains hyphenated numbers, sort the data source before you perform the mail merge operation instead of using the Mail Merge Helper.

Method 3: Replace Hyphens Before You Sort the Data
If you want to sort hyphenated data and use the Number (Numeric) Type setting, follow these steps:
 * 1) Before you perform the sorting operation, replace the hyphens with periods (.).
 * 2) Sort the data using the Mail Merge Helper or the Sort Text command on the Table menu.
 * 3) Replace the periods with hyphens to restore your original numeric data.



STATUS
Microsoft has confirmed this to be a problem in the Microsoft products listed at the beginning of this article.

Additional query words: incorrect calculates hyphenated hyphenation mailmerge math mathematical merge numbers numeric print subtracts working wrong

Keywords: kbbug kbmerge KB196758

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