An alphabetical index helps readers scan a set of names without working through the order in which you collected them. If several source lists contain the same labels, create one entry per label first, then sort those entries. This works for a small glossary, resource directory or product-name checklist.
The Duplicate Line Remover can produce this plain-text entry list with Sort result A-Z. It removes repetitions as part of the process, so use it when each label should appear once.
Prepare labels rather than complete records
Put one intended index entry on each line. For a plant directory, extract the plant names from your notes before sorting. A line such as Maple, page 12 differs from Maple, page 24; the tool compares the whole line and will retain both.
Keep your original notes with their page references or links. The result here is an ordered list of labels. It does not generate page numbers, clickable destinations or separate A, B and C headings. Add those when assembling the finished directory.
Build a small index with a predictable result
Paste these four lines into Paste your list, one item per line, without an extra newline after the final item:
Orchid
Maple
Cedar
Maple- Leave Ignore case unchecked so this test uses exact capitalization.
- Leave Trim whitespace before comparing unchecked; the example has no surrounding spaces.
- Check Ignore blank lines and Sort result A-Z.
- Leave Keep only the duplicates unchecked, so one-off entries remain in the index.
- Select Remove Duplicates.
The result should be:
Cedar
Maple
OrchidCheck the four counters: 4 Lines in, 3 Unique lines, 1 Duplicates removed and 3 Lines out. Maple appears once, and the original collection order has changed. If sequence or priority matters instead, follow the guide to removing duplicates while keeping their order.
Check labels that contain numbers
This tool enables numeric-aware text comparison when sorting. With the same settings, try:
Item 10
Item 2
Item 1The output is:
Item 1
Item 2
Item 10The number inside each label is ordered numerically, so Item 2 comes before Item 10. This behavior follows the numeric option documented in the MDN collation options reference. It is useful for numbered labels, but do not treat it as a date parser or a spreadsheet sort by a chosen numeric column.
Separate alphabetic order from duplicate matching
Sorting and deciding which entries are duplicates are separate steps. If you enter Maple, maple and Cedar on separate lines with Ignore case off, all three remain. The sorting comparison treats case differences as equal for ordering; that does not make the duplicate-removal step discard either spelling.
For a directory that should have one standardized name, decide the preferred spelling before the final run. Use the earlier duplicate-removal guide to choose case and whitespace settings deliberately, then review the retained names.
The sorting implementation uses JavaScript localeCompare without selecting a particular language. Its language conventions therefore come from the browser runtime. Alphabetical order can differ between languages, as the MDN language-sensitive sorting examples demonstrate. For multilingual labels or a publisher with specific collation rules, review accented entries manually; the tool has no language selector.
Review the index before using it
Compare the output count with your expected number of distinct entries. Check a repeated label, a numbered label and the first and last entries, then use Copy. Keep the source list alongside the index until you have restored the relevant links or references. An alphabetic list makes names easier to find only when the entries still point readers to the right material.