Access will not allow the sorting of columns in alphabetical order why?

Thanks for the interesting replies which have added to my understanding of Access, although none solved the problem.

I eventually discovered why these columns would not sort as follows:

1. When I originally designed the database I attributed Long Text to all columns, so as not to be restrictive to data entry.
2. I have found out by trial and error that Access will not allow alphabetical A - Z sorting of columns attributed to Long Text.
3. I changed the appropriate columns and attributed Short Text.
4. I can now sort the data into alphabetical order.

Regards

John Sanderson

There are a number of limitations with long text and memo fields. You have found one. You should really rethink your strategy of "Long Text to all columns". Surely 255 characters should be sufficient for most of your fields.

You can usually just right click on the column and choose a-z.

Are you talking about a datasheet form, or when you open the table directly?

If we are talking about a continues form, or a datasheet form (which looks like the table view), then if the column in question is disabled (displayed, not enabled), then the sort options ARE DISABLED.

HOWEVER your right click will work but in fact you are referring to the column to the left or right (VERY VERY hard to see and notice this from the GUI - it LOOKS like you selecting the right column when in fact you can't).

So this case can OFTEN be confusing since you simply right click on the column and are selecting A-Z or Z-A to sort - and it does not work correctly! However, if you look CLOSE your cursor is NOT in the column you right clicked on since it is disabled. Thus your sort applies to the column to the left, or the right. So from a visual you are right clicking on the column, and choosing sort – but it don’t work and this is hard to see.

So try the sort on a table (just open the table directly to test this). If the sort works just fine on the table, then likely this is a datasheet form with the column disabled. 

If above is not your case (a form of some type), then something else here is at play and we likely need more info to determine what is going on. My best "guess" is this some form with the column in question disabled - and thus you can't select the column for sorting.

Regards,

Albert D. Kallal (Access MVP)

Edmonton, Alberta Canada

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I have no idea why you are unable to sort the datasheet on the column, but you should never interface with data in a table's raw datasheet view other than possibly when debugging.  Data should only be exposed in a form or report.  In the case of the  former the form's RecordSource would be a query as Karl suggests, e.g.

SELECT *

FROM [AddressList]

ORDER BY [LastName];

In the case of the latter the report's internal sorting and grouping mechanism should be used to order the data.

Use a query to sort.