Change Topic Order on Export To Word

In addition to Ary's response, if the map has an org-chart layout the topics will be exported in left to right order, if it has a right map layout they will be exported from top to bottom - and so on through the other layout options.

You can also change the topic export order by first sorting the topics. Go to Sort in Edit Topics on the Advanced ribbon tab. This gives you options to sort forwards or backwards using alphanumeric or alphabetic options on topic names, or by various task attributes. You can also specify the sort depth.

If you want to use this facility to sort map topics temporarily for export only but then return to the previous layout afterwards, save the map before sorting it and then when the export is completed click the Undo button (you may have to click it twice). If it doesn't revert to the previous order simply close the map without saving it and reopen it.

Oops - I should have mentioned the map type - I am using the process flow type map

Ah, that does make things a bit more complicated - as you've discovered, Sort is not available in flowcharts or similar layouts.

There is a workaround, albeit a little circuitous, which is to export to Word via Excel. The simpler option is if you want your preferred order to be based on the topic names. Select Microsoft Excel under Export in Files, and step through the stages in the Excel Export Settings, which are similar to the same process used when you export to Word. Include all the elements you want to appear and then select either Outline or Pivot (there isn't much difference when exporting from a flowchart as the there isn't really a hierarchy). it's useful but not essential to create a header row when this option comes up.

Complete the export then open the resulting spreadsheet in Excel. Select the entire sheet as exported and sort on the topic names - these should be in the first column which should be be labelled "Level 0" in the header row. Then simply highlight the spreadsheet without the header row, copy it, and paste it in a blank Word document.

You can now now convert the table to text. To do this, highlight the table in Word, choose Table to Text and in the dialogue box select Separate text with Paragraph marks.

If you want to export the map to Word based on a sort order not related to topic names then things get even more complicated. I think the simplest option would be to create a numeric topic property in which you can add a number manually to indicate sort order. When you export the map to Excel ensure this topic property is included. After you export the map to Excel the property field should appear as a column containing the assigned numbers. You can then use this to sort the table instead of topic name; when this is completed you can delete this column and then proceed with the rest of the process described above.