I am preparing a long list with entries and sub-entries


After I am done, I want to sort it by alphabetical order
But I want the sub-entries to stick with their parent entries, even after the sorting.
How to prepare the list, and how to sort it when I am done?

EDIT: to clarify, the project is to translate a book index into another language.
After I am done, it will have to be re-alphabetized, because the entries in the target language will not start with the same letter as in the source language.

I didn't get any answers, so I guess there is not an easy solution to this problem.
Tell me what you think of this workaround:

1 instead of starting sub-entries on a separate line, type a * and then write in the subentry on the same line

2 finish list, and sort it

3 search and replace * with ENTER + TAB

will this work?

in search and replace, what are the proper names for ENTER and TAB, and where do I find them?

I changed the title of your post to give more information.
I do not regularly use the sort function and cannot figure out any way to do what you initially suggested.

What you are talking about, with putting everything in a single paragraph should work.

Tab is ^t and Enter is ^p. These are under "More" and then special. You want the paragraph mark for Enter, not the symbol.

I took a look to see whether I could information about a "sort on position" option for Word, and found this link that might perhaps help: https://office-watch.com/2014/sorting-in-word/

I would do this by modifying the list to include the parent on every line, sorting and then removing the parent eg
becomes
This is easy to sort as one big group and then you can remove the parents where necessary

__________________
Andrew Lockton
Chrysalis Design, Melbourne Australia

thanks for idea.