About sorting records in tables

Sorting the rows in a table lets you more easily derive information about its contents, such as which county had the highest rent last year. After sorting a column's values in ascending order, the values are ordered from A to Z or from 1 to 10. With descending order, a column's values are arranged from Z to A or from 10 to 1. When a table's rows are sorted, only the table's display is modified.

Sometimes it's helpful to sort a table by more than one column. For example, when working with demographic data, it might be helpful to sort counties first by state, then by population and age—the effect is similar to producing a report. The easiest way to sort by more than one column is to right-click a field name and click Advanced Sorting. This opens a dialog box that allows you to choose up to four fields to sort by and set each field's sorting order.