Build and sort a comparison table

In this lesson

Build a vendor table, sort its costs, repeat its header on later pages and keep each price with the right vendor.

Example

Printer lease comparison — London office

Marcus in Facilities is comparing printer lease vendors for the London office. His draft uses tabs and spaces for columns. Editing a price moves the other details out of alignment.

Printer lease comparison.docx

Table 1: Printer lease options
Vendor	Monthly cost	Setup time
Northline Print	£145	3 days
ClearCopy	£129	5 days
Brightway Imaging	£160	2 days
PaperTrail Ltd	£138	4 days

Teaching diagram, not a Microsoft screenshot.

How it works

A real table keeps each vendor’s details in one row, even when you edit a price or note. Tabs and spaces only make columns look aligned. Label each column so a reader can tell what the numbers mean.

A repeating header labels columns on later pages. Right-align prices to make them easier to compare, and show the currency and monthly period. Use a light style so borders and shading do not distract from the figures.

Steps

Choose Insert › Table and select 4 columns × 5 rows.
Enter Vendor, Monthly cost, Setup time and Notes in the first row. Add Northline Print (£145, 3 days), ClearCopy (£129, 5 days), Brightway Imaging (£160, 2 days) and PaperTrail Ltd (£138, 4 days).
Choose a light style in Table Design. Keep Header Row selected and turn on Banded Rows.
Select the Monthly cost cells and right-align them with Ctrl+R. Keep the £ symbol and each price in the same cell.
Select the first row and choose Table Layout › Repeat Header Rows. Word will repeat it if the table crosses an automatic page break.
Choose Table Layout › AutoFit › AutoFit Window to fit the table to the page width.
Add References › Insert Caption with “Table 1: Printer lease options”. Check that the caption sits next to the table it describes.

Try it yourself

Add “Kestrel Office Supply” at £152 with a 1 day setup time.
Choose Table Layout › Sort. Sort Monthly cost in ascending order with Header row selected under My list has. Check the resulting vendor-price pairs.

Show expected result

Order from top: ClearCopy £129, PaperTrail Ltd £138, Northline Print £145, Kestrel Office Supply £152, Brightway Imaging £160.
The header remains above the data and is not sorted among the vendors.
The added row has banded shading and a right-aligned cost; adjust either if it did not carry over.

If something goes wrong

The header does not repeat on the next page.: Select the actual first row and apply Repeat Header Rows. Remove a manual page break inside the table; headers repeat at automatic page breaks.
The header moves into the sorted data.: Undo and select Header row in the Sort dialog. Check that the cost column sorts as Number and that each vendor still has its original cost.

Quick check

Try these questions after the exercise. Check the result in your app before marking the lesson complete.

1. Why use a real table?

It keeps row and column relationships during editsIt sends the data onlineIt removes the need for headings

2. Which setting repeats column labels on later pages?

Match caseRepeat Header RowsTrack Changes

3. Which vendor is cheapest in the five-vendor exercise?

Kestrel Office SupplyBrightway ImagingClearCopy

Choose an answer for all 3 questions to check your understanding.

Optional: try it with Copilot

If you have Copilot, try this after the exercise. Keep the original file and compare its suggestions with your own result.

Put these vendor details into Vendor, Monthly cost, Setup time and Notes columns. Keep each original figure with its vendor and sort monthly costs from lowest to highest.