When you use the Bibliography feature in Citation, references are automatically alphabetized when the "Alphabetize" option is checked.

There are other situations, however, which might require you to sort all the records in your datafile. You might want to sort the records by Author and date for browsing, or you might want to sort by the primary (first) keyword.

The Sort feature enables you to re-order the records in your datafile by the contents of any field. There are number of different ways you can re-order your datafile, with different sort types and sort orders.

To sort a database

1. With your datafile open, click Tools, Sort. The Sort dialog will display.
2. Choose the Sort Type.

   If you choose one of the pre-set Bibliographic sorts, Citation will automatically set the fields to use for sorting.

   If you have chosen Sort By Fields, you will now need to click the drop button and choose the fields for the sort.

3. Choose the Sort Order.
4. Click OK to begin sorting the database.
5. When the sort is completed, the Sort Finished Dialog will display. You will have the option to:
   • Choose Retrieve to open the sorted datafile as an untitled datafile.
   • Choose Save As to assign a name to the sorted datafile and save it to disk.
   • Choose Cancel to abandon the sorted datafile without saving.

IMPORTANT
When you have finished sorting records from your database, make certain you assign a new name for the database, so that your original database is not overwritten. Or, if you want to use the sorted database as your main database, you will automatically have a backup by leaving the original on your disk.

We recommend assigning a filename with an .srt extension.

For instance, if the name of your datafile is biblio.dat, the sorted datafile should be named biblio.srt.

You can use the Bibliography feature to write citations for the records in the sorted or reordered datafile.