Alphabetize a list: sort lines A to Z

Natural order, explained

Many programs sort by character codes, one character at a time. In that order every capital comes before every small letter, and digits are compared one by one, so “Chapter 10” lands before “Chapter 2”. Text Studio's A to Z sorts the way people read instead:

A run of digits is read as one number, so 2 comes before 10. That matters most for numbered things: IMG_9 before IMG_10, Track 2 before Track 11, version 1.9 before 1.10. Capitals and accents are ignored while comparing, so “Apple” sits with “apple” and “résumé” with “resume”, and lines that compare as equal keep the order they had. Windows File Explorer orders file names on the same idea, which is why this order feels familiar.

Things that sort oddly

• Empty lines gather at the top of A to Z. Remove them first with Remove empty lines in the same menu.
• A space at the start sends a line ahead of the others. Trim spaces at the ends of lines in Clean removes it.
• Quote marks and brackets at the start of a line sort ahead of letters and digits, so “(draft) Report” comes before “Apple”.
• Decimals and minus signs are not read as part of a number: each run of digits counts on its own, so 1.25 sorts after 1.5, and -10 after -5. That suits version numbers but not money. Prices and measurements belong in a spreadsheet, which sorts numbers by value.
• Dates sort correctly only when they are written year first, like 2026-10-08.
• Full names sort by whatever comes first on the line. To sort “Ada Lovelace” by surname, swap the names with find and replace first.

Shortest first, Shuffle and Z to A

Shortest first orders lines by their number of characters, spaces included, and keeps lines of equal length in their old order. It is a quick way to find the empty or cut-off entries in a list, the shortest product names for a narrow label, or the longest lines that break a layout: run Shortest first, then Reverse the order of lines, and the longest come first. Word lists for a crossword or a word game fall neatly into groups by length the same way.

Shuffle puts the lines in a new random order each time you choose it, for quiz questions, a reading order or who presents first. Z to A is a real sort from the end of the alphabet, not a flip. To turn your current order upside down, whatever it is, use Reverse the order of lines.

Sorting part of a text, and other tools

A sort does not have to cover everything. To alphabetize one block inside a longer document, such as the reference list at the end of a paper or the ingredients of one recipe in a collection, select those lines from the start of the first to the end of the last and choose A to Z. The lines above and below stay exactly where they were.

Other tools on Windows sort too. Word's Sort button on the Home tab sorts paragraphs, and every spreadsheet sorts columns, Octoolo's Spreadsheets included. In Command Prompt, sort list.txt prints a file's lines in order, and PowerShell has Sort-Object for the same job. Text Studio's advantage is that the list stays in front of you: sort it, look at it, undo, and try another order, with duplicates and numbering one menu away.