WD: Updating DATABASE Field May Change Results

CAUSE

Word will use the first entry in a field (column) to determine what data type is in that field. If a column contains different data types, the sort order will vary if the first element is numeric, text, or date.

For example, the following database will have these three results when sorted:

   Original        First sort:      Second sort:      Third sort:
                   numeric          alphabetic        date
   ==============================================================
   24              banana           01/8/92           24
   5               apple            12/12/93          5
   banana          01/8/92          24                apple
   apple           12/12/93         5                 banana
   12/12/93        5                apple             01/8/92
   01/8/92         24               banana            12/12/93
				

Fields with consistent data types will sort or update consistently within Word.